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The Lead with Jake Tapper
KC Fire Department: Upwards Of 10 Victims In Super Bowl Rally Shooting; One Dead, 10-15 Injured In KC Rally Shooting. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired February 14, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:12]
STEVE MOORE, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: If it turns out to be something that is explained very well by the actions and by the identities of the persons who were shooting then the crime scene gets -- the immediate crime scene, the shooting, that gets limited to just the area of the shooting and not the entire location.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Well, we know that they have a lot of work ahead of them.
Steve Moore, Ed Davis, thank you so much.
We are following this. The shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory rally.
Jake Tapper picks up our coverage.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: And welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Abby Phillip, in for Jake Tapper today.
We start with this breaking news. Police say that there are multiple victims injured following a shooting at the end of a celebration rally for the Kansas City Chiefs.
The local fire department reports there were upwards of ten victims. We don't as of right now, know if anyone has died. But the shots were fired and police activity led to a chaos scene at this parade site. Police say the two people are now in custody and they are asking people to leave the area as quickly as possible.
As all of this was happening, the Missouri Governor Mike Parsons and his wife were both in attendance at the Super Bowl parade, according to a post on his X account. Both are now okay and they are thinking law enforcement for their fast action in this incident.
Let's go straight to CNN's Josh Campbell. He is following all of this for us.
Josh, what is the latest reporting that you're getting about what may have happened here?
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Abby, so this is reality in the United States of America now. This celebration that followed that American tradition of the Super Bowl has now been rocked by this other element that has all too American, that is mass shootings. We're seeing now upwards of 10 people have been injured following this celebration there in Kansas City.
Now, we're learning minute by minute from authorities new information. We're told that this occurred at the conclusion of this ceremony when shots rang out, obviously that creating widespread chaos as people began to flee, police say that they do have two armed individuals in custody.
Right now, there's no indication that authorities have provided indicating that this event was targeted. Perhaps this could have been to people exchanging gunfire with themselves and we have bystanders who were struck in the process. All of that right now, unclear. We're waiting for authorities to provide additional information on a possible motive here, but nevertheless, ten people are being treated.
Authority said multiple people were struck. It's unclear whether that ten includes all the gunshot victims or, you know, you can imagine as people are fleeing a chaotic scene sustaining injuries in the process there as well. So authorities are now working backwards to try to determine how this began, why it started, and obviously whether there were additional victims.
We've seen on our affiliate coverage, authority is going through clearing the scene. First of all, trying to get everyone out of there, but also looking behind trailers, looking in stairwells, doing they're clearing operations to ensure there aren't other suspects or perhaps injured people who are in and around that area. So still a lot of questions right now, obviously a very concerning situation here now, upwards of ten people injured following shots ringing out after this celebration for the Kansas City Chiefs. We're waiting for an update and authorities, we understand that hospitals around the area have indicated they are taking victims on last check, I've only seen one hospital actually indicate to gunshot victims, but again, were trying to determine the actual status of these injuries, the status of those who were actually transported.
And then finally, its worth pointing out if we often seen in these shootings just because someone is in custody doesn't mean that authorities would be able to quickly glean what a possible motive is, Abby. So a lot of work going on behind the scenes right now to try to determine why this happened.
PHILLIP: Yeah. There's a lot that is unknown and as you point out, Josh Campbell, when we talk about ten victims, we don't know what the nature of their injuries were. There's some early reporting from a hospital, five victims were received there, but were waiting to get additional information. About really the scope of the casualties in this particular incident.
Josh, we'll be back with you as soon as you have more reporting. Right now, I want to go now in the studio here.
John Miller is with us. John is the CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.
John, you're always talking to your sources as these things happen, but I feel like moments like this, we have to look at the clues that we have so far. We know two armed people were brought into custody. That is fairly unusual. What are you learning about? What police think might have happened here in this incident?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it's very early and all the information is preliminary. The one thing that we learn over and over again during these incidents is that the first story is usually never correct.
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PHILLIP: Right.
MILLER: The second story usually is closer. And by the third story, these things seemed to come into focus. So we're still in the first story we stayed here, but we know shots were fired. We know two individuals have been taken into custody.
As you point out, we don't know that they've been charged. They were said to be armed. But again, this information is so preliminary. We can't confirm that yet.
We know that they have what they estimated as ten people shot. I am told that two of those people were in critical condition in that their injuries were more serious than other peoples. At the same time, since we got that report, what we've learned from following the events is that ambulances have come upon people in the street, one who had a gunshot wound to the foot, they have individuals with panic attacks who are hyperventilating and ran.
You've got good news and bad news here in terms of in a terrible event, where and how it could unfold. The bad part for everyone is it's a massive crowd situation which adds to the panic, adds to the pandemonium, adds to the lack of clarity about what it started over. On the other hand, it came with a lot of planning and a lot of support. So one of the things that has happened here is gunshot victims and other injuries were taken to the medical tents that had been set up for the event. And many of them triage there where they were able to figure that out.
There were ambulances all ready on the scene as part of the medical element of this large crowd event. And then of course, many, many more have responded. So, they had a lot of what they needed on the scene, but because of the crowd and the situation has been kind of very hard to sort out what it started it over n between whom.
PHILLIP: The idea that as you noted, they happened upon some victims, people just in the crowd, maybe a gunshot wound here, maybe someone. The large crowds causing people to have other injuries related to that, how complicate -- complicated is it for the reverse engineering of an incident like this to unfold? Now, given look, they were expecting 1 million people at this event. That is a huge number of people. MILLER: So we learn about these things as we go. One of the key
lessons here will be the Boston marathon bombing also at the end of the event, not at the beginning. Also at the finish line as it was winding down. But one of the opportunities they took and you heard Josh Campbell say this already on our on our air is everybody's got a phone. Everybody is taking video. So they're going to end up putting out a call for everybody who's got any pictures that happened in and around this event in that timeline to provide those. If they think there have any value or even if they don't, they'll want to go through all of that.
They'll also be going through their own cameras at the scene, pole cameras and whatever was existing there, security cameras. So the video canvas may give them a clearer picture than actually eyewitnesses who stories when you, when you have eyewitnesses in a crowd who see different parts of things. Their stories can vary greatly in terms of description, in terms of the order events in terms of exactly what they saw.
PHILLIP: All right. John Miller, standby for just a moment.
We're going to go back to Josh Campbell who has some new reporting -- Josh.
CAMPBELL: Yeah. Well, we're getting indications or reports from victims who were there who describing just how chaotic and fearful this was. You can imagine in an area where you have buildings surrounding this area when you hear gunfire, it's difficult to determine where that's coming from.
And so, people were fleeing in all different directions. We've got a statement from one victim who was an attendee here at the parade, just to give you a sense of what it was like to be in that moment, they say, I'm okay, just shaken up. This was so scary.
Someone yelled, everyone get down and we drop to the ground and then we ran. I heard the shots but didn't think it was a gun until afterwards, but I'm safe. You know, after these mass shooting active shooter-type situations, we always hear that phrasing, run, hide, fight, run if you can, hide if that is the next course of action, and then fight if you must.
And so you can only imagine being in this crowd hearing shots ring out, trying to determine do I -- do I hide? Do I secrete myself behind some area? Or do I try to get out of there? Just to give you a sense of just how chaotic that was.
As Miller was just noting a second ago, this planning that went into this is benefiting authorities and many different ways because we know that medical personnel were also so on site. So as people were fleeing, particularly those who were injured, they were intercepted quite quickly by medical personnel who were already there on scene, able to start that initial triage before they began to transport people.
And then finally a big event like this, we're also hearing -- we're getting statements from the governor of Kansas, the governor of Missouri, who are also onsite.
[16:10:04]
Those individuals obviously come with their own protective details. This was an event with multiple VIPs who were there who had added security. So, the event itself very secure. We're told this happen nearby, nearby garage, near where this was all taking place. So it doesn't appear that it was happening right in the throes of this actual rally.
But the idea is happening towards the end. If this was something that was in need targeted you can imagine someone trying to find a location where there'll be a large group of people. But again, too soon to know right now what the actual motive was obvious. Just looking at some of the crime stats there in Kansas City, obviously, gun violence is something that is plaguing so many Americans streets.
So unclear whether this was targeted, whether this was a dispute between two people who were firing each other. Nevertheless, we do have multiple victims here. We're trying to gather information about how many those actually include gunshot wounds, how many of those may have been injured as they were fleeing the area.
But a lot of work going on behind the scenes right now, Abby, to try to get to that motive, to try to treat those who need care. And then well wait additional information on how the investigation unfolds.
PHILLIP: All right. Josh Campbell, a lot more for us to learn over the course of the next few hours.
We have breaking news. This there has been a shooting at a Super Bowl rally in Kansas City. Multiple victims, we are learning this hour. The fire department it says upwards of ten right now.
Much more from the scene coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:15:21]
PHILLIP: And we're back now with our breaking news. Ten people have been hurt in a shooting at a Super Bowl rally in Kansas City. The Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is now responding, posting on X: Praying for Kansas City.
With me now is CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem, and former deputy FBI director, Andrew McCabe.
Juliette, I want to start with you. Right now, Kansas City police say that they've taken two armed people into custody. That is somewhat unusual because normally in a mass shooting situation, we typically only see one shooter arrested, sometimes not even necessarily someone who is armed. What does that piece of information tell you?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So we have to put this in the context of Missouri. Missouri has some of the -- what you would just call. This is what you would just call it the most lax gun laws in the sense of open carry. So the fact that someone's armed is not going to tell me much. There are lots of people armed who aren't doing bad things.
And so, what we don't know is that these two people were seen doing something bad or if in the sweep up, that's inevitably going to happen after a massive event like this. You have people running everywhere whether they were picked up. So the fact that it was two probably isn't going to tell me too much right now until I know what the charges are, and whether they are related. In fact, two shootings because the police report is vague in that regard.
PHILLIP: Yeah. That's a very important point. I mean, this is happening in basically a metropolitan time.
KAYYEM: In real time, yeah.
PHILLIP: Yeah. And it's happening in real time.
So, Andy, this is happening at the Super Bowl rally for the Kansas City Chiefs. This is a major event they were expecting million people, hundreds of thousands at the very least, good weather there today.
So a lot of people outside, but there was also a large police presence already there. How does that change the response to a situation like this?
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Abby, I'm sure that the law enforcement community, Kansas City got together and pulled a extensive plan together and anticipation of this event. And that's going to involve, you know, the Kansas City police department in the lead and everybody else supporting them with whatever unique authorities and capabilities you have.
And that's to cover everything from how to get fire and ambulance services into that crowd when people become sick or need to be evacuated for some reason, how to get the crowd to disperse quickly, which direction are they going to push people in if they have an emergency like this one and they need to get most folks out of there as quickly as possible. So, there's no question that they went into this with all those plans in place and that helps them enormously when in a situation like this, something does happen.
They've -- the folks on the ground who number certain only in the hundreds, maybe in the thousands depending on who they brought in to help them with this. They know what to do first. Like, your biggest enemy in any situation or crisis is chaos. People not knowing where to go first responders, not sure of where to go, who to listen to what steps to take?
So those sorts of that sort of preplanning for these events is absolutely essential.
PHILLIP: Yeah. As you're talking there, Andy, I have some new information just in to CNN, the Kansas City fire department is now reporting one person has died as a result of this shooting. Nine others are injured at the celebration shooting that we've just been discussing. So one dead, nine injured.
This is now a deadly event, sadly, Juliette.
KAYYEM: Yes.
PHILLIP: Look there has been so many of these over the last several years at all kinds of different events when police are trying to secure a situation like this. It must seem almost impossible to prevent the one or two people from entering a crowd like this armed intentionally, or maybe it's a conflict and something like this occurring.
KAYYEM: Right. Right. So you have -- this is sort of I do a lot of mega-event planning. This is sort of your hardest situation.
Look, the hardest is your sort of spontaneous thing, which is you have a streets, you have open urban areas -- that's what a parade is about, very little time to plan, although both, both cities would have been anticipating that they would have won, so they have some planning. And a festive atmosphere that generally will make people more -- you know, people are going to be party.
[16:20:04]
Let's just put it like people -- people are doing things that make the environment maybe more elevated, more fun, but also if people are armed can also be more dangerous.
What we don't know now is this what we would call an adjacent event. So I can make a parade, Super Bowl, whatever more secure I can harden it. We know how to do that. It's hard. There's lots of different agencies. But certainly with time, you can plan that.
The problem is that some stage that hard target will have to be next to a soft area. You can't extend the hard target throughout the entire city. And so what we often find in these incidents, you more dangerous place is that transition between the hard target and the soft target. And honestly that's when you go back to the Boston marathon. You did have hardened areas. The problem was, was that the soft areas where people could just walk back and forth. That's where you saw the attack.
So this is what we've learned as we go along. But there's no -- there's no way you can make any mega event. We just have to get that around our heads perfectly safe because it will always be next to something that is vulnerable, will cause panic, will cause -- cause the crowd to run. And I think that's what we're going to -- that's what happened here.
PHILLIP: Yeah. This is the reality here in the United States of America.
KAYYEM: Yeah.
PHILLIP: Juliette and Andy, I want you to both stand by for me. I need to go straight to Josh Campbell, who has some more new reporting here. Josh, what are you learning?
CAMPBELL: Yeah, Abby, so as far as the two people who were taken into custody, that's what authorities had sent out information on that sometime ago. I want to be real specific about the language that police are now using. They're saying that there have been to arm people detained for more investigation. And so they haven't provided any information confirming that these two people are associated with this shooting as Juliette was just mentioning, around area where gun laws allow for of the carrier -- open carry and concealed carry.
You can imagine if someone was nearby a shooting, if they try to be a Biden standard or intervening there, that could be someone with a gun doesn't necessarily mean that that person was actually involved in this incident. So to be very specific, their authority say two armed people detained for more investigation.
As you mentioned, we are now learning new information about the victims. One person as sadly died, there a possible nine others who are injured, authorities haven't said yet that that includes gunshot victims specifically for all of those or you can imagine in a chaotic scene as people are fleeing, the sound of gunfire our people could have sustained injuries in that process.
And so, we're working to determine what the status of those injuries are. Authorities are also now appealing to the public for any type of information that they have -- may have taken there from the scene. John Miller was talking earlier about the Boston marathon bombing and all of these various entities.
You know, in that case, I was in the FBI when that occurred. The FBI set up a special portal, a special tip line asking people if you were near that scene, we want all of the media that you have all of your photos, all of your videos. We will be the ones to decide what is actually relevant or not. And that information was critical and trying to identify the people who are responsible for that attack.
And so what authorities here are trying to do just the same, they're appealing to anyone and who may have been around there. Perhaps if you were filming the celebration itself, not anticipating that there'll be some type of event, the moments leading up to that could be very critical and tried to determine the movement of the person or persons who may have been responsible. So all that's happening behind the scenes.
Finally, ill have to foot-stomp just as I've been saying all along, still unclear right now whether this shooting is actually associated with the actual celebration itself. Police say that this occurred as this celebration was wrapping up there at the conclusion, no indication yet that it was specifically targeted, but you can imagine in the era of mass shootings in which we live, that is something that authorities quickly want to determine in and go after as far as a motive and that part of the investigation, trying to determine whether this was a targeted attack. All that's happening right now behind the scenes, Abby.
PHILLIP: Yes. That's exactly right, Josh. Thank you.
And we are bringing you the information as we are getting it, but as Josh Campbell just pointed out, these are the early stages. This information can and will change and get updated as officials give us more.
Here's the latest right now, we have one person now dead in the Super Bowl shooting in Kansas City, multiple people are injured. We'll have much more on this breaking news just ahead
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:29:04]
PHILLIP: We're back with our breaking news. At least one person has been killed, 14 others injured at a Super Bowl victory rally in Kansas City. You're seeing images there of people in law enforcement running at the scene moments ago that was a chaotic scene that that is now were learning resulting in casualties.
We are awaiting news conference from police with updates, but I want to go straight to CNN's Josh Campbell. Josh, were learning some new information about the numbers here. How many people injured?
And unfortunately, we are learning of a death no, absolutely. And you know, as we all fear the number keeps going up now, we're hearing from the fire department in Kansas City that there are now approximately 14 people who were injured, as you mentioned, one of those individuals has sadly succumb to their injuries. Of those who are injured, we're told that three are currently in critical condition, five people right now are in serious condition, and there's one person with non-life- threatening injuries.
[16:30:07]
Now, authorities have not yet indicated which -- among those who are suffering gunshot wounds but other injuries may have been sustained during fleeing -- this shooting taking place at the end of the celebration.
But again, we're told right now, one person who is dead, approximately 14 other victims and at least three people right now in critical condition in the hospital. As you mentioned, Abby, we are awaiting this press conference from police to provide additional information. There's a lot we don't know about what actually transpired.
But the fact that they are holding a press conference in and of itself is signaling to us that appears at least the emergent phase of this incident is now over apart from some type of manhunt that might be underway authorities, typically, they will come out and provide information once the emergency urgency is over. So we will wait to hear what authority say as far as what they believe happened here, who was responsible, any additional information on the victims.
And a major question we have because its already is have said that two individuals who were armed or detained at the scene pending additional information -- investigation, they haven't indicated that those people were specifically involved here in the shooting and then against finally one major question, we all have, did this shooting actually relate to this massive Super Bowl celebration that was taking place there in Kansas City, or was this something that was occurring adjacent, unrelated. And you just happen to have this large crowd. There are a lot of unanswered questions again, that press conference I should be starting here moments from now.
PHILLIP: All right. Josh Campbell, standby for us as we do await that press conference. That's expected this hour.
Back with me now, though, is senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem and former deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
Andy, I want to get to you on what Josh was just highlighting. There are always these uncertainties in the situation, but some key ones one, police are being very careful in how they described these two armed individuals who have been detained in the context of this shooting. We don't know if they are considered suspects.
And as Josh has also pointed out, we don't know whether or not the shooting was targeted at this event or adjacent to this event. So given all of that, what do you think we can expect to hear at the stage from police as they anticipate to come out in the coming minutes to give us a briefing.
MCCABE: Sure. So I hope that we hear some more details about how they think about these two individuals who are in custody and Josh has pointed it out well. This is a state with very loose gun laws. There's open carry laws, basically, anyone over 18 basically can carry a weapon anywhere they want to go.
This is an outdoor event in a massive park in which, you know, tickets are certainly not required access to the event was open to the public. So it's likely that there were many people well in the crowd carrying weapons. So we don't know if the two people in custody if police have any reason to believe that they were the ones that fired these shots that caused the injuries.
So in order to establish that, they'll be looking for eyewitnesses. There'll be reviewing security, any security cameras that might have been up in the area that might have seen the folks who were involved in this sort of thing. They'll want to talk to these two people as possible that there'll be interviewed and cooperate and explain whether or not they were involved or what their perspective is on the whole thing.
So, hopefully, we'll hear some details about these two from law enforcement, although I have to say, we've done these things so many times before, Abby, we all know that the first press conference is often very sparse in terms of detail because its early on in the investigation. And law enforcement is reluctant to disclose the information that they know and they're very actively caught up and trying to sort these details out.
So I hope can we will get some insight. But yeah, I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
PHILLIP: Julia, do you get the sense that given that there is a briefing anticipated, given that, you know, the scenes seems to be relatively calm, police are not anticipating that there is a manhunt underway. Could we extrapolate that?
KAYYEM: There may be a manhunt underway. I do think that the police are sort of walking away from these two arrests, not in a bad way, but just simply say we don't know if they're involved, but they were armed around the event.
The two things that hopefully will come out of this obviously, is, is the injured, is the victims. I mean, this is all ultimately about them and about the people who are harmed. You know, what's going on with family unification? What's going on with family notification? We may not learn their names.
But it's been several hours, so they have a sense of the harm, at least now and it's not good.
[16:35:05]
We have several people in critical condition.
Second, will be the nature of the injuries. So what we don't know now is -- was this targeted because it was a Super Bowl event or is it just we have lots of guns in this country and there was something that happened that led to gun violence, and it was next to a parade with a million people. And therefore, you are going to have harms that may be unrelated to being shot, right?
And in fact, we don't know if I thought that many people were shot. Your biggest fears have of course, crowd crush. I was looking I do -- I do a lot of designing on the steps. I'm looking at the gates. The gates are meant to protect people that are in, you're going to have a lot of people hurt if they're trying to get out of the pinned area because they're hearing gunshot wound.
So that's -- those are the things that we will hear in terms of what we worry about, in terms of these mega events and then, of course, what an investigation looks like. But, you know, like Andrew, I don't think we'll hear much about that piece of it right now.
PHILLIP: Yeah. And look, this is as you pointed out, a huge event, the event itself, but it's also a city-wide celebration. People having their own gatherings possibly intoxicated, all kinds of things can unfold in that kind of environment.
Juliette and Andy, both of you standby for us.
We are standing by that news conference. It's expected to begin any minute now, on this breaking news, there has been a deadly shooting putting at a Super Bowl celebration in Kansas City. We're going to bring you that news conference as soon as it begins.
We're back in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:41:05]
PHILLIP: We're back now with our breaking news. A shooting has occurred at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade. There is at least one person dead and 14 others have been injured.
At any moment, officials are expected to hold a news conference that we will bring to you as soon as it happens. But first, let's go to CNN's Josh Campbell. He's all over these latest developments.
So, Josh, we are learning more now about the victims here. The numbers are increasing, but also were learning about the extent of the injuries that they've experienced.
CAMPBELL: Yeah, Abby, sadly, that number is going up. The number who were injured after this shooting, following the Chiefs celebration there in Kansas City. We've been waiting for information really distilling the nature of those injuries.
We just got information in from Truman Medical Center. They say that they are treating four gunshot victims, eight other individuals who, quote, were not shot. So for gunshot victims, eight other people who were not in injured by gunfire, as we've been saying all along though. And as Juliette mentioned, the number of barriers and barricades around that area, all sorts of danger areas as people were fleeing that may have resulted in something type of injury, but at least right now, four gunshot victims, eight other people that they're saying that there were injured, but not by gunfire.
And as you mentioned, sadly, one person is dead. We are waiting to hear from authorities in that press conference that should begin moments -- we're moments away from, not only about the investigation. We've been talking about the nature of the two people that they detained and any information about the motive.
But as we've seen so often in these situations, a lot of times after a mass event if someone is injured, they were all -- they will often what's called self deploy or are you report to the hospital? And so the number may actually go up. People who sustained injuries as part of this incident, were just waiting to gather that information.
But obviously, a significant event occurring there. Too soon to tell whether this was a targeted type of attack, authorities aren't releasing any information about the two people that were detained, whether that they believe that they were firing going into this crowd, perhaps firing at each other, or perhaps just armed, but had nothing to do with a situation. We're waiting those key details which should become momentarily.
PHILLIP: That's right, Josh. A lot of scenarios still possible here based on what we know.
CAMPBELL: Yeah.
PHILLIP: We also now have some video of a witness who was at this deadly shooting at the Super Bowl rally in Kansas City. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But when we were heading west trying to get back in away from it, we saw the police swarm of stairwell, and then we heard another part from there. And that's when I was like, okay, we're gone.
I want to bring in now Madison Anderes and that is she heard the gunshots and ran to safety.
Madison, thank you so much for talking to us for just a few minutes.
I understand. You were there were glad that you're safe. What can you tell us? About what happened?
MADISON ANDERES, HEARD GUNSHOTS AND RAN TO SAFETY (via telephone): Yeah. Thank you.
And when after Travis Kelce kind of got done singing, my family and I was with my mom and my brother and we started to head out towards the bridge. So at first we heard what we thought was like a string of fireworks go off and people couldn't started to run and got scared and in ran a little bit.
But then people were kind of like, oh, that's a sick joke. That's fireworks and then we kind of all really quickly than people couldn't got up and we sort of walking forward again pretty rapidly. And then that's when a gentleman who we are right behind turned around them with like he's got a gun and that's when really all the chaos, we felt kind of like kicked up.
And like I someone take him to ground like screaming. Everybody was like get down, get down, people running. Children are like screaming and then I was able to get back up and connect with my mom and brother than we were able to like kind of crotch behind the store.
[16:45:09]
PHILLIP: So, Madison, there's so much there that you just shared with us.
Stand by for us we'll have a press conference occurring right now.
MAYOR QUINTON LUCAS, KANSAS CITY: Hi, everyone. I'm Quint Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City.
I'm joined today by Police Chief Stacey Graves, our Fire Chief Ross Grundyson. After I'm done speaking, Police Chief Graves will give details on the incident that happened earlier today.
A few things that want to make sure we note at the outset. First, today, we had 600 Kansas City, Missouri Police Department officers, 250 from outside agencies. We went out today, like everyone in Kansas City looking to have a celebration. That celebration was marred by a shooting today and we recognize that
there are some who are injured. We are praying for the safety of everyone. I have talked to a few different folks so far.
One, we have spoken to the Kansas City Chiefs who made clear that their prayers are with everyone who was at the parade today, every one in Kansas City, and everyone who was touched by this incident. They also noted that there are players, coaches, and staff are all accounted for at this point and safe.
We, however, know that this is a fluid situation, so all that we are sharing now may change as the hours go ahead. We've also received a call from the White House that offered all federal assistance in the investigation. We had federal agencies present today. We appreciate that, and certainly in the days ahead and the hours ahead, we will make sure we continue to do this work.
I will say personally, first, a thank you to the women and men of law enforcement, to the women and men who worked with the Kansas City Fire Department and our other agencies. When the shooting started, I like many others, ran and ran for safety. I saw a number of agencies, including the Kansas City Police Department, officers with guns drawn, were running towards danger. We thank them for that.
As I was leaving the scene, I saw members of our Kansas City fire department administering aid to folks who are seriously injured without not concern for the shootings and the challenges that were near them. This is absolutely a tragedy, the likes of which we would have never expected in Kansas City. And the likes of which we remember for some time.
However, I want to say thank you to those who are making sure that we are safe today. Those were investigating this incident and those who will continue to make sure that those who committed these acts today are brought to justice.
We'll come back for some questions at the chief's comments. But now the police chief, Stacey Graves.
CHIEF STACEY GRAVES, KANSAS CITY POLICE: Chief Stacey Graves, Kansas City, Missouri police department.
At the conclusion of the Chiefs rally today, there were shots fired on the west side union station. Immediately, officers responded to the area, took two people into custody and also immediately rendered live sustaining aid to those victims.
We're still gathering information on the number and the status of victims. But like I said, we know that one of the victims is deceased. We also know that officers ran towards danger, officers were there to keep everyone safe I'm angry at what happened today.
The people who came to this celebration should expect a safe environment. We had over 800 law enforcement officers Kansas City and other agencies at the location to keep everyone safe, because of bad actors, which were very few. This tragedy occurred even in the presence of uniformed law enforcement officers, who again, ran towards them and took them into custody.
To the people who were injured in this tragedy, our hearts go out to you and your families. This investigation is just beginning and we are working safely to clear all surrounding areas and businesses.
It is still an active investigation we will continue to keep you updated. We will keep you updated on Twitter and most likely a follow- up press availability.
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
GRAVES: No, one of our victims has been declared deceased
We have -- we have --
(SIREN WAILING)
GRAVES: Right now, we have up to 10 to 15 injured.
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
GRAVES: Yes.
Right now, we do not have an exact number of people who were victims of a gunshot wound. It could be upwards from 10 to 15, with one deceased.
[16:50:03]
REPORTER: How many are in critical condition at this point?
GRAVES: I do not have conditions on our victims just yet.
REPORTER: Any believed to be children?
GRAVES: I don't -- I do not believe that any of them were children.
REPORTER: Any law enforcement injured in this?
GRAVES: Nothing of note
REPORTER: Chief, what prompted -- what do you guys believe now prompted these shooting?
GRAVES: We are still -- that is still under investigation. I myself was outside when I heard the shots fired. It is an ongoing investigation. It's going to take us a little bit to determine exactly what led up to the shooting.
I will say though we do have to suspects in custody.
REPORTER: (NAUDIBLE) in social media that some fans may have helped contained --
GRAVES: I have -- I have heard that as well. I have heard that fans got involved in the apprehension or the pursuit of one of the suspects. I cannot confirm that right now, but that is something that I've heard myself.
Yes?
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) It's happened pretty quickly. So, can you talk about when this started, sort of time line from there to the point where your officers responded to the point where you had KCPD helping to render first aid.
GRAVES: Absolutely. As soon as the rally included, there were shots fired on the west side of Union Station. Officers were on-scene in the area. I know one of the suspects was immediately pursued on foot. Like I said, there's two suspects in custody.
I have heard the information that was just requested. I will confirm or deny that but after that, immediately, officers begin rendering life-sustaining aid, calling in fire, which is the fire department to also assist those victims.
REPORTER: Do you know if there were more than two people taken into custody? Because we had two people after you guys had made your announcement there will be two people in custody, two people live on air being taken, handcuffs, put it to vans.
GRAVES: Well --
REPORTER: Will you talk about that and the process and the recitation continues?
GRAVES: I don't know exactly the two that you're talking about, that that your camera caught on, on video being loaded until wagon, I don't know that. But I can tell you that in and around that scene, it is still active. Not active in necessarily threats, but it's a very active scene. We're still investigating. It is still early on. We still have parties that are walking into hospitals.
REPORTER: Chief Graves, do you know, anything about the suspect in terms of where are they from, are they from?
GRAVES: I do not know that, but that's something that I also will be finding out.
REPORTER: We're hearing upwards of maybe 20 shots getting talked about the number that you heard.
GRAVES: I'm hearing 10 to 15, possibly 15 with the one that is deceased.
REPORTER: And do you know anything about the timing? It seems a lot of -- it's (INAUDIBLE)
GRAVES: I don't have anything about -- I can't give you an answer on the timing. I can just say that that's when it occurred and we are investigating what led up to that. Maybe once we get some of those details, we'll know why that happened at that time. But right now, it's just -- it's still too new.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: Just one incident that injured more people --
GRAVES: That is something that that is under investigation
REPORTER: You yourself had to for safety were still waiting with time what exactly happens? We're in Super Bowl parade and this is what the country is talking about now. What is your message to this city of the time like this?
LUCAS: I second the comments by the chief of police. I'm heartbroken. First of all, I'm praying for the victims and the families impacted. I start with them. I'm incredibly upset. Disappointed.
I was there with my wife. I was there with my mother. We would never would've thought that we along with Chiefs players, along with fans hundreds of thousands of people would be forced to run for our safety today I think that I'll let the investigation shakeout before coming any further conclusions, but I think the initial response absolutely as angry.
You know, we have done a number of these now this is a day that a lot of people afford to something they remember for lifetime. And what they shouldn't have to remember is the threat of gun violence marring a day like this, injuring them and their families.
This morning, I was actually thinking about bringing my child as many people in Kansas City did and I don't want us to have to in our country for every big event think about a concern of being shot. As the chief noted, we had a lot of law enforcement officers there today. They did exceptional and outstanding work, and I will second that again because on your timeline point, I was inside of Union Station. We heard something number of a start running and I see a stream of officers going the exact other direction, in with guns drawn ready to address danger.
And that was the situation throughout, people who responded absolutely immediately.
[16:55:03]
But I wish that we lived in a world where they wouldn't have to do that. I wish we live in a world where we wouldn't have to see incidents like that, but I'm as heartbroken as anybody. We will do a full and thorough investigation.
I hope that we bring whoever this is to justice and we will continue to try to make sure that we can be as safe as possible. However when you have people who decide to bring guns to events, when you have people who are deciding to try to mar events celebratory ones like this one, all of us start to become members of this club that none of us want to be a part of, which is those who have experienced mass shootings.
I hope for Kansas City, this is one of the last times we experienced them. (CROSSTALK)
LUCAS: What's that, sir? Sorry? Go ahead.
REPORTER: -- in danger at any point?
LUCAS: Was I in danger?
REPORTER: Players, Chiefs players?
LUCAS: You know what? I think we'll let the investigation take a look at that. The police department responded effectively. I think incredibly quickly to make sure that people would be out of harm's way.
That being said, a number of us had to flee from a situation because we heard a sound of gunshots. So I'll let you answer your question in terms of whether you think that's something that puts you in danger or not?
In my view, anytime shots are nearby, you don't know where they're coming from, you don't know who's firing them and all of that. Then perhaps there is a situation of danger. But --
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: But I ask a fire question?
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
(CROSSTALK)
GRAVES: Hold on 10 to 15 is what we have, potentially 15, one deceased. I don't have a condition on the other gunshot victims?
REPORTER: Gunshot?
GRAVES: Correct.
(CROSSTALK)
GRAVES: Correct. I do not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to have a lot of updates later, guys. We've got to go inside and gather this information. I appreciate it.
(CROSSTALK)
GRAVES: I just have one -- I just have one -- excuse me. I just have one thing to say. This is not Kansas City. I'm angered by what happened, but I want you to know that the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department and all the law enforcement officers that were there today that were serving and protecting did the best that they could. And I'm so proud of them that they ran into danger getting two people into custody, and at the same time rendering life sustaining aid to those victims. We were here for a safe celebration and because of two bad actors or
more, is why we're standing here today. We will recover as a city. I -- my heart goes out to our victim who is deceased. But your police department stands ready and we are invested in the safety and betterment of Kansas City. Thank you
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: You were just listening there to an emotional Kansas City, Missouri police chief, Stacey Graves, talking about the shooting that occurred at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration, rally and parade.
Juliette Kayyem is back with us.
Juliette, they don't have a ton of information as they just really emphasize there. However, what did you hear and what we just heard?
KAYYEM: So one is that these are not all gunshot wounds. So as we were talking about, you have a mega event, you've got barriers, people are going to get hurt for a variety of reasons. We also learned about location and timing of the shootings, which goes to a narrative that this may have been what we would call sort of adjacent to the parade, but causing an impact in the parade. And then the law enforcement officials went there.
I will admit you that was much more hostile press conference and I was anticipating you have a thousand police officers there. You have a hardened area which appears to have remained safe, but a lot of people don't seem to understand how parades work. They are in cities. They are open for a reason because you want lots of people to come to them.
The idea that there are going to be without risk its not the, is not, is not feasible if you want to have a city parade. It's just a risk calculation that every city is making. And I think that that's what the mayor was getting too.
You know, we talk about the victims, which is of course the most important. The other is the social impact of this gun violence, the mayor and the police chief saying this is not Kansas City. We hope this doesn't happen here again.
I hope so too. But no, I wouldn't bet on it, right? If you're a major city, if you're a mayor, don't bet on it. And that's I think a statement more about gun violence than it is about a parade.
PHILLIP: Yeah. I mean, look, as the mayor said, he thought about bringing his young children to this parade.
KAYYEM: Yes.
PHILLIP: A lot of parents now thinking twice about bringing our kids to crowded areas that are now as we know, either targets for shootings or could perhaps be impacted by a shooting happening in these urban areas that are dealing with, as Kansas City is, an influx of gun violence. Juliette Kayyem, thank you for all of your analysis during this
coverage.
Our coverage on CNN, of course, continues of this shooting in Kansas City, Missouri, at the Kansas City Chiefs parade.
Wolf Blitzer picks up our coverage with "THE SITUATION ROOM" right now.
