A shooting at the end of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade left at least eight injured while sending terrified fans running for cover.
Fire Department Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins said eight to 10 people were injured but declined further comment, saying only that additional information will be released soon.
Police said in a news release that two people were detained. Fans were urged to exit the area as quickly as possible.
Kansas City police said on X that “child reunification stations” were set up at the main entrance to Union Station, and at 2301 Main St. “We still have several needing reunification,” the tweet read. Police also asked witnesses to the shooting to go to a corner near Union Station.
Multiple people near the parade route were carried away on stretchers shortly after Chiefs fans marked their third Super Bowl title in five seasons.
“We are stacking up trophies,” linebacker Drue Tranquill said as he grabbed a reporter’s mic during Wednesday’s festivities to mark the Chiefs’ come-from-behind, 25-22 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Players rolled through the crowd on double-decker buses, DJs and drummers heralding their arrival. Throngs lined the route, with fans climbing trees and street poles, or standing on rooftops for a better view. Owner Clark Hunt was on one of those buses, holding the Lombardi Trophy. Former “Modern Family” star Eric Stonestreet was part of the mob.
“Best fans in the world,” exclaimed wide receiver Mecole Hardman, who caught the winning touchdown pass, as he walked along the route, with the players signing jerseys and at least one person’s head.
“Never stop,” running back Isiah Pacheco added from the route.
Key on the minds of many fans is whether pop superstar Taylor Swift would join her boyfriend Travis Kelce for the parade and victory speeches. Swift has not commented. She has a show in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday night, the first of three scheduled concerts on her Eras Tour.
She was nowhere to be seen early in the parade. Instead, Kelce was joined by his mom, Donna Kelce, the superstar of NFL moms (her oldest son, Jason Kelce, is a center for the Philadelphia Eagles).
Unseasonably warm temperatures in the 60s Fahrenheit (15-20 Celsius) had players stripping off shirts. The weather also helped generate a crowd that city officials estimate could top 1 million.
“I missed last year. I said, ‘I’m not missing this year,’” said longtime fan Charles Smith Sr., who flew from his home in Sicklerville, New Jersey, for the parade.
Known by friends as Kansas City Smitty, the 52-year-old first became a Chiefs fan when Christian Okoye played fullback for the team starting in the late 1980s.
“I got a history with this team,” he said, adding that he ran out of his home with a giant flag, screaming “Kansas City,” when the Chiefs clinched the victory in overtime.
The city and the team each chipped in around $1 million for the event commemorating Kelce, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs becoming the first team since Tom Brady and the New England Patriots two decades ago to defend their title.
Some fans camped overnight and others began to stake out spots before dawn to catch prime viewing spots. Bailey McDermott, 17, and Gracie Gilby, 16, of Lebanon, Missouri, got up at 3 a.m. to make the three-hour drive to the parade. They had a party to watch the game, confetti poppers erupting when the Chiefs won.
“Kind of freaking out at the end,” said Gilby, who wore a sequined Chiefs jerseys with Kelce’s No. 87 on it. McDermott also had a sequined jersey, hers bearing Mahomes’ No. 15.
Many of the largest school districts in the area canceled classes, and businesses along the parade path are turning the day into a viewing party for their workers. At least 600 Kansas City police officers will be stationed along the the 2-mile (3.22-kilometer) route, police Chief Stacey Graves said.
Teens and younger kids were everywhere, some tossing footballs, others watching replays of game highlights on giant TV screens.
Among them was Elysseah Buford and her friend, Devaun Burns, who watched the game in between taking orders at McDonald’s. “We’re losing. We’re losing,” Buford recalled saying. But Burns scolded her, even as a manager declared that the game was a lost cause: “I said, ’Don’t speak it. Believe it.”
The 18-year-old high school seniors from Raymore joined the festivities with another friend, 17-year-old Mekiyzeion Williams, who dared to ask what would have happened if Hardman missed the TD catch. “Shut up,” Burns said.
After decades without a championship, the city is gaining experience with victory parades. Five seasons ago, the Chiefs defeated the 49ers for the team’s first Super Bowl championship in 50 years. That followed the Kansas City Royals winning the World Series in 2015, the city’s first baseball championship in 30 years. That year, fans abandoned their cars on the side of the highway so they could walk to the celebration.
Then, last year, the Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 and prophetically vowed they would be back for more.
One big change this year is that the parade is getting started one hour earlier at 11 a.m. so the crowd will dissipate before the Valentine’s Day dinner crowd shows up.
After the massive cleanup, the team gets ready to try it again.
“It never gets old,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, before joining the celebration.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings signed forward Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6 million contract Monday, completing a deal with one of their best young players less than 72 hours before training camp begins.
Raymond will count $8.075 million against the salary cap through 2032. The 22-year-old was a restricted free agent without a contract for the upcoming NHL season and was coming off setting career highs with 31 goals, 41 assists and 72 points.
The Red Wings have another one of those in defenceman Moritz Seider, who won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2021-22.
Detroit is looking to end an eight-year playoff drought dating to the Original Six franchise’s last appearance in 2016.
Raymond, a Swede who was the fourth pick in 2020, has 174 points in 238 games since breaking into the league.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kirk Cousins led a flawless last-minute drive for Atlanta and connected with Drake London for a 7-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left to give the Falcons a 22-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.
Saquon Barkley dropped a short pass that stopped the clock with 1:46 left and forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal instead of a game-sealing first down. That was plenty of time for Cousins — especially against an Eagles defense playing soft coverage with a nonexistent pass rush.
The 36-year-old veteran, playing his second game since tearing his Achilles tendon last Oct. 29 while playing for Minnesota, shook off an uneven effort and hit Darnell Mooney for 21 and 26 yards on consecutive plays during the decisive drive.
Cousins found London on a short pass to his right for the tying score, and Younghoe Koo put Atlanta (1-1) on top with a 48-yard extra point after London was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The go-ahead drive took just 65 seconds.
Jalen Hurts had his final pass intercepted by Jessie Bates III to seal Atlanta’s win and set off a wild celebration on the sideline.
The Eagles (1-1) went ahead on Hurts’ 1-yard tush push score with 6:47 left. Barkley finished with 95 yards on 22 carries in his home debut for Philadelphia, but his drop provided the Falcons with some hope.
And then Cousins started playing like the QB Atlanta thought it was getting when it signed him to a four-year, $180 million contract.
Cousins finished 20 of 29 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Atlanta’s first TD was a 41-yarder from Cousins to Mooney, who finished with three catches for 88 yards.
Hurts was 23 of 30 for 183 yards, including a touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. With No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury, Smith led the Eagles with seven catches for 76 yards and a score.
Jake Elliott kicked two field goals for the Eagles. His 28-yarder with 1:39 left made it 21-15.
Atlanta kept stalling in the red zone, getting three field goals from Koo, before Cousins fired over the middle to Mooney, who shook loose from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and left him on the turf before he somersaulted into the end zone with 1:21 left in the third quarter for a 15-10 lead. Cousins failed on the 2-point conversion pass.
Hurts had some juice in his step during a second-quarter TD drive, running with abandon for big plays much like he did in the 2022 season. He spiked the ball in a rare, raw show of emotion on a 23-yard run, earning a delay-of-game penalty. He shrugged off the 5-yard setback and scrambled for 9 yards and 15 yards to move the Eagles to Atlanta’s 19.
With comedian Shane Gillis and actor Bradley Cooper among the fans cheering on the Eagles, Hurts connected with Smith in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard TD that made it 7-3.
Under new defensive coordinator Vince Fangio, the Eagles have established an early knack for allowing long drives that end with three points instead of seven. Koo kicked field goals of 39, 22 and 34 yards, the last one enough for a 9-7 lead in the third quarter. In their opener, the Eagles held the Packers to just three field goals when they drove inside the 20.
Questionable call
Rather than take a chip-shot field goal from Elliott, the Eagles’ fourth-and-4 gamble at Atlanta’s 9-yard line in the first quarter failed when Hurts threw an incomplete pass.
Elliott kicked a 29-yarder with 4:31 left in the third quarter for a 10-9 lead.
Running wild
Bijan Robinson ran for 97 yards for the Falcons. The Eagles stuffed him late on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 39.
Barkley was quiet until the go-ahead drive, a week after he rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. Eagles fans booed when the opening drive of the game ended without Barkley touching the ball. They went wild when he had consecutive 9-yard runs to open the second drive. Barkley had 40 yards rushing in the first half.
Foles honored
Former Eagles QB Nick Foles, who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl title, served as an honorary captain and led the crowd in a rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”
Injuries
The Falcons played without LB Nate Landman (calf, quad).
Up next
Atlanta hosts Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Sunday.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
