Parents and loved ones of 22 injured and one dead spent their Valentine’s Day at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri after shooting erupted between two men at Union Station during a public celebration of the Kansas City Chiefs’ win at the Superbowl. The victims’ ages range from eight to 47; more than half were 16 years old. The deceased victim was Lisa Lopez-Galvan, 43, a local DJ. This was the 50th mass shooting of 2024 in the United States.
The celebration was a part of a parade through downtown Kansas City that ended with a rally at Union Station. In an interview with the New York Times (NYT), locals Kourtney and Jesse King, who attended the parade with their children, said that as they began to leave a fight broke out and the two men started firing at each other.
Courtney Brown of Independence, Mo., told the NYT, “We were almost trampled twice.” She and her two children locked arms and hid near a barricade until the “crushing crowd had eased.”
Nine of the children suffered gunshot wounds;none were in critical condition, however. On Saturday all of the victims being treated at Children’s Mercy Hospital were discharged. 12 people were taken to University Health and eight of them were being treated for gunshot wounds, including two in critical condition.
Lyndell Mays and Dominic Miller, both 18 years old, have been charged with second-degree felony murder, two counts of armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon. More charges are expected and both are being held on $1 million bond. Both Miller and Mays were shot by each other and are currently hospitalized.
In Missouri, a child older than 12 can be prosecuted as an adult if charged with a felony. A hearing must be held in which a juvenile judge agrees to transfer the case out of the juvenile system.
Professor of criminal justice at Metro State University in Minnesota James Densley told the New York Times, “Pushing and shoving escalate very quickly into shooting whenever guns are present, there’s a lot of conflict resolution, shall we say, or dispute resolution, that is done down the barrel of a gun with these young people.”
Kansas City is no stranger to gun violence. With more than 182 people killed in 2023, it has one of the highest murder rates in the country. According to Missouri’s gun laws, no permit is necessary for someone 19 and older to carry a concealed handgun.
This Valentine’s Day shooting marks the six-year anniversary of the Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, one of Florida’s deadliest teen shootings. The gun violence epidemic continues to plague America’s youth, making voting more important than ever. Register to vote here.