KC Super Bowl rally that ended in deadly shooting lacked necessary security, lawsuit says

Yahoo

2 days ago

Attorneys for three women who were caught in the flurry of gunfire at the end of the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade and rally in February 2024 have filed a lawsuit against the city and a handful of other defendants, saying the event lacked security protocols that could have prevented the incident.
The shooting near Union Station — which killed one woman and injured dozens of attendees, including Erika Reyes, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and her two children — was a 'preventable calamity, borne of systemic failures and negligence from the top down,' according to the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in Jackson County Circuit Court.
The three women, Reyes, Esmeralda Ortiz and Kathleen Martinez, were near the gunfire and had close relationships with shooting victims, according to the lawsuit. Reyes, her two children and one of Martinez's children were struck by gunfire, attorneys wrote.
'While the terror of February 14 was perpetrated by young men with pistols and short-barreled rifles, responsibility for the shooting does not lie solely with them,' said Patrick Stueve, an attorney for the women, in a statement. 'This tragedy was also the result of negligence at multiple levels. We are pursuing this action not only to advocate for the victims of this tragedy, but to hold all parties accountable and to ensure safer celebrations for our community moving forward.'
While police officers were spread throughout the parade route and rally areas, the rally had no security measures — checkpoints, metal detectors or barriers, the lawsuit said. Those security measures are necessary at mass gathering events and would have stopped the tragedy, attorneys wrote.
Officials have said a dispute between two groups erupted into gunfire that sent attendees at the rally scrambling for cover. Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a 43-year-old Johnson County mother and local DJ, was fatally shot. Many others were injured by gunfire, and others suffered broken bones, brain injuries and dislocated joints, as they fled the area.
'This case is especially important now, given both the likelihood of another Celebration Rally, as well as the certainty of another mass gathering event at the Liberty Memorial, when the 2026 FIFA World Cup takes place,' the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit requests damages as well as a court order requiring organizers to implement security standards like checkpoints, barriers, scanners and to work with third-party security consultants for future events.
After the 2024 violence, local leaders considered changes to a potential celebration event if the Chiefs had won Super Bowl LIX and whether to forgo another mass rally. Earlier this year as the Chiefs began their postseason run, Mayor Quinton Lucas told The Star that one option would have included a ticketed rally followed by a parade. The rally would have included security checkpoints like those fans go through at sporting events.
In a statement provided to The Star Tuesday, Kansas City spokeswoman Sherae Honeycutt said, 'The City of Kansas City recognizes the widespread impact the Super Bowl rally shooting had on our community. The City condemns the criminal actions that brought violence to what should have been a celebratory event. While the City has not yet been served with the petition, we will review it carefully once received and respond in accordance with the law.'
Prosecutors filed criminal charges against Dominic Miller, Lyndell Mays, Terry Young and three youths following the shooting, and the lawsuit also names the three men and three unnamed individuals as defendants, saying they fired into the crowd with 'malicious intent.'
Also charged were Fedo Manning, Ronnel Williams Jr. and Chaelyn Groves, in connection with guns that were used in the shooting, and those three men are also named as defendants in the civil lawsuit. Charges alleged the men were involved in illegal straw purchases and trafficking of firearms, not that they were among the shooters.
Also named are Union Station, the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission, O'Neill Events & Marketing and Flyover Event Co. LLC, which the lawsuit said were involved in organizing the event. Frontier Justice LS, LLC, The Ammo Box and R.K. Shows Mo. Inc., which the lawsuit states were connected to the sales of guns used in the shooting, were also named.
Frontier Justice allegedly sold 23 firearms between May and October 2022 to Manning and should have known that Manning was involved in gun trafficking, the lawsuit said.
The Ammo Box allegedly ignored 'clear signs' that Williams was purchasing a firearm for someone else, the lawsuit states. Groves allegedly gave Williams the funds to buy the firearm at an R.K. Gun Shows event in November 2023 when he was 19 and not legally allowed to purchase a pistol. The gun was later found outside Union Station following the rally shooting.
No hearings have been set in the lawsuit.
Other defendants in the case were not immediately available for comment Tuesday.