17 Feb 2024

Two juveniles charged in Kansas City Super Bowl rally shooting

10:00 am on 17 February 2024

By Brad Brooks and Brendan O'Brien

Law enforcement respond to a mass shooting during the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII victory parade on 14 February, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Law enforcement respond to the mass shooting that occurred as the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII victory parade in Kansas City, Missouri was winding down on Wednesday. Photo: David Eulitt / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Two juveniles were charged in a Kansas City family court in the deadly mass shooting that sparked chaos at a rally celebrating the Chiefs Super Bowl victory, authorities said on Friday.

One person was killed and 22 others, including nine children, were hit by gunfire during the Wednesday rally.

The Jackson County Family Court Division of the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri said in a written statement that the two suspects, who authorities have not identified, "are currently detained in secure detention at the Juvenile Detention Center on gun related and resisting arrest charges".

The charges were filed on Thursday, according to the court statement, which noted that family court proceedings would be closed to the public per Missouri law.

"It is anticipated that additional charges are expected in the future as the investigation by the Kansas City Police Department continues," the statement read.

Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a written statement on Friday that her office was working closely with family court authorities overseeing the charges, though she noted that they had no authority over the family court officers.

Baker's office has said that it would seek to eventually try the two suspects as adults, but that under Missouri law the pair needed to be charged as juveniles first.

First responders tend to an injured person as they bring her out of Union Station near the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl LVIII victory parade on February 14, 2024, in Kansas City, Missouri. Multiple people were injured after gunfire erupted at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory rally on Wednesday, local police said. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

First responders tend to an injured person as they bring her out of Union Station near the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl LVIII victory parade. Photo: AFP

Police said the shooting erupted during a quarrel among several people as the Chiefs' rally wound down. Several firearms were recovered from the shooting scene.

The parade and rally celebrating the Super Bowl triumph over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday drew upward of a million fans, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said on Thursday, and the sound of gunshots as the event was breaking up sent throngs scrambling for cover.

Two fans attending the rally ended up tackling and detaining one of the suspects.

Police said the gunshot victims' ages ranged from 8 to 47. Lisa Lopez-Galvan, 43, a popular local radio personality, was the lone fatality.

Children's Mercy Hospital said it treated the nine children who were shot and all were expected to recover. Two other children with non-gunshot injuries and an adult victim were also treated there, the hospital said.

- Reuters