Great Bend Post
Feb 15, 2024

Hoisington residents narrowly escape danger during KC shooting

Posted Feb 15, 2024 5:00 PM
From left, Hoisington residents Kamden Kennon, Kayden Kennon, and Alex Elmore took this photo near the stage in front of Union Station just before the first shots rang out after the Super Bowl parade Wednesday in Kansas City.
From left, Hoisington residents Kamden Kennon, Kayden Kennon, and Alex Elmore took this photo near the stage in front of Union Station just before the first shots rang out after the Super Bowl parade Wednesday in Kansas City.

By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post

An estimated 1 million people converged on downtown Kansas City Wednesday morning and afternoon to celebrate the Chiefs' Super Bowl win against San Francisco. Minutes after the final player speech on the stage in front of Union Station, a shooting left one woman dead and more than 20 injured. Kamden Kennon, an employee at the Barton County Sheriff's Office, was one of several area residents in attendance. His group had just taken a photo near the stage when the first shots rang out.

"For me, I knew they were gunshots," Kennon said. "I knew the difference between gunshots and fireworks. Everyone was saying they were fireworks. My brother and buddy were agreeing with me that those weren't fireworks and everyone was trying to convince me they were."

The large parade made its way down Grand Blvd. in downtown Kansas City before Chiefs head office personnel and players made their victory speeches on the stage in front of Union Station. Kennon's group that included his girlfriend and her mother, his brother, Kayden, and his friend Alex Elmore were situated near the west side of the stage. They took a photo at approximately 1:46 p.m. just as the first shots rang out.

"People started clearing out and we were making room to take a picture there," Kamden said. "That's memories. That's what we wanted. As soon as we took that picture, that's when we heard that. It might have been 5-10 minutes after they got off the stage, I think."

Kennon's group joined the mass exodus of people trying to flee from the scene. They saw a man lying and shaking on the ground, surrounded by local law enforcement and EMTs.

"With Alex being an EMT from Hoisington, and my girlfriend's mom being a nurse, we just stood by to wait," Kamden said. "It look like he was seizing but it turned out he wasn't seizing. I think he was in shock. He had blood coming from his abdomen and my girlfriend said he was shot."

Elmore heard the chaos included a car driving through the crowd. In further attempts to leave the area, Kamden's group got separated and his 16-year-old brother was nowhere to be found.

"Apparently, there was another set of gunshots," he said. "I didn't even hear them because my adrenaline was up. My brother ended up covering my girlfriend and her mom on the ground. He laid on top of them to cover them from gunfire."

In the process of protecting the women near the man who had been shot in the abdomen, Kayden saw a handgun lying on the ground and alerted police, who picked up the pistol.

The group initially reunited and continued to make their way away from the stage when they encountered officers in a threat-ready position, pistols pointed somewhere. In front of them, another victim lie on the ground with a gunshot wound to the leg.

"It was still pretty crowded," Kamden said. "Everyone was rushing to get out of there. I remember seeing the ambulance trying to get out, and they couldn't get out because of vehicles parked there. They were struggling with officers trying to get out. That was another bad thing."

In all, 22 people suffered gunshot wounds, and eight others were treated for other injuries related to the incident. Eleven children were among the victims. Lisa Lopez-Galva, a popular radio DJ in Kansas City and mother of two, was killed in the shooting.

"If there were to be another parade, I don't know if I'd ever want to go back just because being that close to what took place, we could have lost our lives that day," Kamden said. "That's not okay. We're there to celebrate because our team just won the Super Bowl. I don't think I'd ever want to go back to a parade."

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and KCPD Chief Stacey Graves held multiple joint press conferences Wednesday evening. 

“I’m angry at what happened today," Graves said. "The people who came to this celebration should expect a safe environment."

"Today was tragic for everyone who was part of it," Lucas said late Wednesday. "I had the chance to talk to my wife just a moment ago who said we became part of a statistic of too many Americans -- those who have experienced or been part of been connected to a mass shooting. That is something that I think is highly problematic for all of us."

As of Thursday morning, authorities had released no motive for the shooting. Anyone with information about the shooting is encouraged to call Kansas City Police at (816) 413-3477.