Biden renews gun control plea after 22 shot in Kansas City - as it happened (2024)

It’s 11:11pm in Kansas City, Missouri and this live blog is now closing. But first, a summary of the main developments:

• One person has been killed and at least 21 others have been injured in a shooting at the Super Bowl victory party for the Kansas City Chiefs.

• Police have detained three people in connection with the shooting, and recovered firearms from the scene.

• Reuters is reporting that KKFI radio has identified the deceased as Lisa Lopez, one of its disc jockeys and host of the show Taste of Tejano.

• At least 11 children between the ages of 6 and 15 were injured and are being treated at Children’s Mercy hospital, nine with gunshot wounds. All are expected to recover.

• The US president, Joe Biden, has released a statement on the shooting, calling for tougher gun control measures and saying that he and first lady Jill will ‘pray for those killed and injured’.

• Authorities said there is not yet a clear motive and said that much remains unknown. They have asked anyone with information or video of what occurred to contact police.

• Kansas City Chiefs tight end star player Travis Kelce has shared on X his reaction of the shooting at the victory parade, saying “I am heartbroken over the tragedy that took place today. My heart is with all who came out to celebrate with us and have been affected. KC, you mean the world to me.”

• Witnesses have spoken of their horror and desperation after gunshots rang out at Kansas City’s Super Bowl victory rally, sparking panic among the tens of thousands who had turned out to celebrate.

• Missouri has extremely weak gun laws, ranked 38th in the country by the non-profit Everytown for Gun Safety, which noted that the state has “one of the highest rates of gun deaths, gun homicide rates, and household firearm ownership”.

• Gun owners in the state are not required to obtain a permit to purchase rifles, shotguns, or handguns, do not have to register their firearms or be licensed to own them, and do not need a permit to carry them, according to the National Rifle Association.

  See Also

  Food crisis: No plan to establish price control board, says TinubuBacot takes control in second half as No. 7 UNC pulls away from HokiesThe Uncertain Future of U.S.-Russia Arms Control

• Missouri congresswoman Cori Bush posted her reaction on X earlier in the day. The Democratic Party member included criticism of the state’s gun control laws

Missouri congresswoman Cori Bush posted her reaction on X earlier in the day. The Democratic Party member included criticism of the state’s gun control laws and Republicans:

Today should’ve been a joyous day for Kansas City—gun violence stole that. My heart is with those injured, their families & all in attendance. Missouri has some of the weakest gun safety laws in the U.S.—pushed for by the NRA-funded GOP. Their greed is harming our communities.

Reaction is continuing in the wake of the shooting at the Super Bowl victory parade in Kansas City. Tishaura Jones, the Mayor of St. Louis, a neighbouring city east of Kansas, has posted on X:

What was meant to be a celebration for Kansas City has instead become an all-too-familiar tragedy. My thoughts are with our fellow Missourians and all of those whose lives continue to be affected by gun violence. I am monitoring the situation closely and praying for all involved.

Witnesses have spoken of their horror and desperation after gunshots rang out at Kansas City’s Super Bowl victory rally, sparking panic among the tens of thousands who had turned out to celebrate.

“The security guard was like: ‘Get over the damn fence right now, there’s a shooter’,” Gabe Wallace, a student told the Kansas City Star newspaper. “When I was hopping over the barricade, my foot hit and my face nailed the concrete.”

Shortly afterwards he stood with a friend near Union Station with a large scrape on his face. “I have no idea if my friends are OK,” he told the paper. “It’s terrible… I’m literally thinking, most of my friends are dead. That’s all that went through my mind, is like, ‘Are my friends dead or not?’”

One person, identified in local media as local DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan by friends of her family, has since been confirmed dead and 21 injured, including eight children hospitalised with gunshot wounds.

Social media users posted video of police running through a crowded scene as people fled. One video showed someone apparently performing chest compressions on a shooting victim as another person, apparently writhing in pain, lay on the ground nearby. People screamed in the background.

Read the rest of this story here:

The US president, Joe Biden, has released a statement on the shooting, calling for tougher gun control measures and saying that he and first lady Jill will ‘pray for those killed and injured’.

His statement begins:

The Super Bowl is the most unifying event in America. Nothing brings more of us together. And the celebration of a Super Bowl win is a moment that brings a joy that can’t be matched to the winning team and their supporters. For this joy to be turned to tragedy today in Kansas City cuts deep in the American soul.

Today’s events should move us, shock us, shame us into acting. What are we waiting for? What else do we need to see? How many more families need to be torn apart?

Biden goes on to outline the kind of weapon bans he is calling for:

It is time to act. That’s where I stand. And I ask the country to stand with me. To make your voice heard in Congress so we finally act to ban assault weapons, to limit high-capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, keep guns out of the hands of those who have no business owning them or handling them ….

Today, on a day that marks six years since the Parkland shooting, we learned that three police officers were shot in the line of duty in Washington DC and another school shooting took place at Benjamin Mays High School in Atlanta. Yesterday marked one year since the shooting at Michigan State University. We’ve now had more mass shootings in 2024 than there have been days in the year.

The US president ends the statement by saying:

Jill and I pray for those killed and injured today in Kansas City, and for our country to find the resolve to end this senseless epidemic of gun violence tearing us at the seams.

Biden has in the past called for improved gun control after previous mass shootings in the US.

More images are coming in in the aftermath of the shooting. Here are some of the latest:

In the latest details on the number of injured in the Super Bowl victory parade shooting, it’s understood that one person has been killed and at least 21 others have been injured.

At least 22 people were hit by the gunfire at the parade, but one of them has since died. Reuters is reporting that KKFI radio has identified the deceased as Lisa Lopez, one of its disc jockeys and host of the show Taste of Tejano.

Fire department chief Ross Grundyson said at a late afternoon news conference that 15 victims suffered life-threatening injuries.

Kansas City police also confirmed that three people were detained in connection with the shooting. At least one firearm was recovered from the scene.

The violence will have long-lasting effects on Kansas City, police chief Stacey Graves said, as well as those who witnessed the incident.

“There are a lot more people who are going to be forever impacted by what happened here today,” she said.

Kansas City Chiefs star player Travis Kelce has shared on X his reaction of the shooting at the victory parade.

He said:

I am heartbroken over the tragedy that took place today. My heart is with all who came out to celebrate with us and have been affected. KC, you mean the world to me.

A barrage of gunfire erupted on Wednesday in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, near an outdoor celebration of the NFL champion team’s Super Bowl victory, killing at least one person and wounding at least 21 others as throngs of fans ran for safety.

Police chief Stacey Graves said investigators had no known motive for the gun violence.

The NFL said in a statement that all of the Chiefs players, coaches and staff who attended the victory rally were accounted for and safe.

Reged Ahmad here picking up the blog from Gabrielle Canon

News from the tragic shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory parade continues to roll out, but here’s what we have learned so far:

• At least 11 children between the ages of 6 and 15 were injured and are being treated at Children’s Mercy Hospital, nine with gunshot wounds. All are expected to recover.

• The Kansas City Star identified a victim who died after the shooting. Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a local DJ and mother of two, died in surgery after being shot, friends told the newspaper.

• Authorities said there is not yet a clear motive and said that much remains unknown. They have asked anyone with information or video of what occurred to contact police.

• Police have detained three people in connection with the shooting, and recovered firearms from the scene.

• At least 21 people were injured by gunfire. Officials said eight people had immediately life-threatening injuries.

• Missouri has extremely weak gun laws, ranked 38th in the country by the non-profit Everytown for Gun Safety, which noted that the state has “one of the highest rates of gun deaths, gun homicide rates, and household firearm ownership”.

• Gun owners in the state are not required to obtain a permit to purchase rifles, shotguns, or handguns, do not have to register their firearms or be licensed to own them, and do not need a permit to carry them, according to the National Rifle Association.

More details are emerging about Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a mother of two who was confirmed as a victim who died by local reporters this afternoon, after she succumbed to a gunshot wound in her abdomen during surgery.

Along with being a beloved disk-jockey for local radio station KKFI, Lopez-Galvan touched lives across the city as a private mobile DJ for more than 15 years according to her online bio, which adds that “for Lisa music is life and a source of happiness”.

“I have known Lisa and her family for over a decade. I have witnessed that smile across DJ equipment, and on the stage of our largest Fiesta in Kansas City,” Manny Abarca a candidate running for Jackson county legislature said on Twitter/X. “I will not let her death go in vein [sic],” he added. “I will legislate, I will fight and I WILL [sic] do everything in my power to change this State and City for the better.”

All the children currently being treated at Children’s Mercy Hospital are expected to recover from their injuries, according to the hospital’s senior vice-president Stephanie Meyer, who issued an update Wednesday evening.

There are 11 minors in their care, between the ages of 6 and 15, and an adult who is a parent of one of the children.

Among the injured, 11 children are being treated at Children’s Mercy Kansas City, according to local news outlets the Kansas City Star and KMBC, nine of them for gunshot wounds.

Messages of sympathy and support have continued flowing out from other NFL teams, including the Raiders, Steelers, Vikings, and Panthers.

“On a day that is meant to bring a city and a community together in triumph and celebration, we are deeply saddened and our hearts break for the victims, their families and the entirety of Chiefs Kingdom following the horrific tragedy and senseless violence that occurred at today’s victory parade,” the Patriots said in a statement. “We will continue to hold the Chiefs, Kansas City and the entire region in our hearts during this time.”

Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas connected the tragedy back to the epidemic of mass shootings in the US and called for more action to stop them.

“Today was tragic for everyone who was part of it,” Lucas said, adding that his wife put it into perspective when he called her after the shooting. “We became part of a statistic of too many Americans – those who have experienced or been part of or connected to a mass shooting,” he quoted her saying.

Missouri has extremely weak gun laws, ranked 38th in the country by the non-profit Everytown for Gun Safety, which noted that the state has “one of the highest rates of gun deaths, gun homicide rates, and household firearm ownership”.

Gun owners in the state are not required to obtain a permit to purchase rifles, shotguns, or handguns, do not have to register their firearms or be licensed to own them, and do not need a permit to carry them, according to the National Rifle Association.

Over the last decade there have been 154 mass shootings in the state, killing 156 people and injuring 582, CNN reports – totals that don’t include today’s numbers.