BOSTON (news agencies) — With back-to-back Super Bowl victories for the hometown Chiefs, Kansas City football fans gathered for another championship parade and a second celebratory pep rally in a row.
Don’t expect there to be a third.
Not because the Chiefs, with star quarterback Patrick Mahomes still just 28 years old, can’t win another NFL title. But even if they do, officials are unlikely to allow so many fans in one place to cheer them on, security experts said in the wake of Wednesday’s shooting just after the rally had ended.
“They have to think twice about having these parades,” said former Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans, who in 38 years with the department worked 12 championship parades and the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. “When you have that many people hanging around in one place, nothing good’s going to happen.”
As many as 1 million fans turned out to cheer on the Chiefs on Wednesday, three days after their 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 58. The event included a parade down Grand Boulevard, followed by a rally in front of Union Station.
The celebratory music was still playing when gunfire broke out in the crowd. A mother of two was killed and 22 others were injured — half of them under the age of 16. Two teens were in custody, Police Chief Stacey Graves said.
The Kansas City violence is part of a troubling trend in which sports celebrations turn deadly, with alcohol often the fuel and guns the spark that ignite violence.
Just in the last year at least 10 people were wounded when gunfire broke out in downtown Denver amid fans celebrating the Nuggets’ NBA title. Two people were arrested – but no one was hurt – when one person fired his gun in the air during a fight over parking lot etiquette after the Texas Rangers World Series parade.