Andy Reid was on hand to comfort fans after multiple people were shot during the Kansas City Chiefs’ 2024 Super Bowl victory parade on Wednesday.
Teenager Gabe Wallace has told how the 65-year-old offered his assistance amid the mass shooting, which left one person dead and 22 others injured, according to Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves. “Andy Reid was trying to comfort me, which was nice,” an emotional Wallace told The Kansas City Star. “He was kind of hugging me, just like, ‘Are you OK, man? Are you OK? Just please breathe.’ He was being real nice and everything.”
The teen added that the head coach — who is known as “Big Red” — then “left to check on other people.” Wallace was attending the parade with his friend Hank Hunter when shots rang out near Union Station shortly after the Chiefs players left the stage, he told The Kansas City Star. After being separated from Hunter, Wallace said Reid comforted him inside the station after a security guard directed him inside.
“The security guard was like, ‘Get over the damn fence right now. There’s a shooter,’ ” Wallace told the outlet. Meanwhile, NFL reporter Albert Breer shared how multiple Chiefs players also comforted young fans and tried to calm them down. He wrote in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), “The Chiefs left the parade in busses, and in shock. I’m told players were UNBELIEVABLE calming panicked kids down. Blaine Gabbert, Tre Smith, Austin Reiter, Chris Oladukun all rallied.”
“Smith went to one upset kid, gave him the WWE title belt and sat with him til he calmed down,” he added. As reported by The Kansas City Star, the victim in the shooting was later identified as Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a mother of two who worked as a DJ. Lopez-Galvan’s employer, KKFI 90.1 FM also confirmed she was killed in the incident. “It is with sincere sadness and an extremely heavy and broken heart that we let our community know that KKFI DJ Lisa Lopez, host of Taste of Tejano lost her life today in the shooting at the KC Chiefs’ rally,” read their statement.
“Our hearts and prayers are with her family. We encourage anyone who feels they saw something to reach out to law enforcement at 816 234 5111. This senseless act has taken a beautiful person from her family and this KC Community,” it concluded. Speaking in a press conference Wednesday, Police Chief Graves said three people were detained and are “under investigation for today’s incident.”
“Right now we do not have a motive,” she added. Kansas City Fire Chief Ross Grundyson said that the injured included “eight immediately life-threatening, seven life-threatening and six were minor injuries.” The injured were transported to three different hospitals: Children’s Mercy, Truman Medical and St. Luke’s.
