Several injured, two detained after Kansas City parade shooting

[Breaking news update, published at 3:28 p.m. ET]

Kansas City police are asking people to leave the area near Union Station as quickly as possible as they treat victims of a shooting after a pep rally celebrating the Chiefs Super Bowl win.

“Anyone nearby needs to leave the area as quickly and safely as possible to facilitate treatment of the shooting victims. Please avoid the Union Station parking garage area to allow first responders through,” police said.

Police said two armed people were taken into custody.

There is no word on the number of victims.

[Original story, published at 2:58 p.m. ET]

By Kyle Feldscher and Matias Grez, CNN

(CNN) — It was all love in Kansas City on Valentine’s Day as throngs of Chiefs fans lined the streets of the city’s downtown to join in a raucous celebration with their back-to-back Super Bowl champions.

Marked by shirtless players dancing and sharing drinks with fans on an unusually warm winter day, the team’s third championship celebration in five years showed just how practiced the team and the city are at partying following a Super Bowl championship.

“They all doubted us. I don’t want to hear any different. But you know who came through in the end – that’s the Kansas City Chiefs,” said Patrick Mahomes, the team’s star quarterback and a three-time Super Bowl MVP.

The parade started with Chiefs players crowded on double-decker buses, waving to fans as they rolled through the city. Star tight end Travis Kelce was spotted on the same bus as Mahomes but it did not appear that his girlfriend, megastar musician Taylor Swift, was able to make the trip. Swift has tour dates in Australia this weekend.

However, Kelce’s mother Donna – who has become a star in her own right – was seen handing out roses to fans along the parade route.

It didn’t take long for some players to leave their rides to walk the parade route, high-fiving fans and some even handing out a few libations to people who had been waiting throughout the morning to cheer on the Chiefs.

A pep rally following the parade featured several players – who appeared to enjoy several of those libations themselves – toasting to the team’s connection with the city.

“Everything we did this year was because of you guys,” said Chris Jones, the team’s standout defensive lineman.

“Chiefs Kingdom, y’all are the reason we do what we do,” Mahomes said.

And Kelce gave a Chiefs-tinted rendition of Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places” – or at least attempted to before being derailed by a combination of the original song playing over the loudspeakers and teammates grabbing for the microphone – to cap off the celebration.

The Chiefs have cemented themselves as the NFL’s latest dynasty with this latest championship victory. Mahomes, who at 28 years of age has already made a claim to the title of greatest quarterback ever, ran along the parade route with his arms outstretched – a similar pose to the one he made after tossing the winning touchdown in overtime on Sunday.

And one theme ran through the team’s celebration in front of Kansas City’s Union Station: The desire to do it all again next year.

“We’re going for that three-peat, don’t forget it, don’t get it twisted,” Mahomes said. “We’re doing it. First time in NFL history, we’re doing it.”

Mahomes certainly enjoyed last year’s parade, too, at one point handing a fan the Lombardi Trophy and then apparently forgetting about it as he walked away. Chiefs owner Clark Hunt held onto the trophy this year, keeping it aboard his double-decker bus and away from the grasp of his quarterback – and any fans with whom he might have left it.

Hunt nodded to the team’s most famous fan when speaking at a pep rally after the parade, saying: “Kansas City, this is our championship era.”

Championship parades are often a time for players to let loose and blow off steam as they revel in their victory ahead of the offseason. In a virtual news conference on Tuesday, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid told reporters it has been “mentioned a couple of times” to his players not to go too overboard with the celebrations.

“It’s great to have fun but be smart,” he added.

Joe Hennessy, a reporter for local station KCTV, posted a video on X of Chiefs fans arriving at the parade route at 4 a.m. to secure their places at the front.

“Chiefs fans are built different!” he wrote.

Reid said Chiefs coaches will “take right around a week off” after the parade, but will then get straight back to work for the NFL Combine, which begins on February 26.

The-CNN-Wire
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