KANSAS CITY - A barrage of gunfire erupted on Feb 14 in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, near an outdoor celebration of the National Football League (NFL) champion Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory, killing at least one person and wounding 21 others as throngs of fans scurried for safety.

Police Chief Stacey Graves told a press conference three people were detained “and under investigation for today’s incident” outside the city’s landmark Union Station following a ticker-tape parade.

She said investigators were still working to determine exactly how many people had been injured, and that they had not yet identified a motive for the gun violence. At least two of the people in custody had been armed, police said, and a third person had also been detained, the chief said.

She said investigators had no known motive for the gun violence. Eleven of those hurt by gunfire or the ensuing chaos were children as young as 6.

At least 22 people were struck by gunfire, one of them fatally, fire department chief Ross Grundyson said at a late-afternoon news conference. He said 15 of those wounded suffered life-threatening injuries.

Local radio station KKFI identified the victim killed as Ms Lisa Lopez, one of its disc jockeys and host of the show Taste of Tejano.

On Feb 14, US President Joe Biden called on Americans to back his call for Congress to ban assault weapons, saying that a deadly shooting at a Super Bowl victory parade in Kansas City “cuts deep”.

“Today’s events should move us, shock us, shame us into acting,” Mr Biden said in a White House statement.

As he has after so many previous mass shootings, Mr Biden called for enactment of tougher gun control measures. Mr Biden said he and his wife “pray for those killed and injured today in Kansas City, and for our country to find the resolve to end this senseless epidemic of gun violence”.

He called on Americans to “make your voice heard in Congress so we finally act to ban assault weapons, to limit high-capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, keep guns out of the hands of those who have no business owning them or handling them”.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said the prevalence of guns and gun violence in the United States made it difficult to provide complete security for any public event, even with several hundred law enforcement officers on patrol, as they were, for the Chiefs’ victory parade and rally.

“Parades, rallies, schools, movies – it seems like almost nothing is safe,” Mr Lucas, a Democrat, told reporters, recounting how he was among those who ran for cover at the sound of gunshots.

“We became part of a statistic of too many Americans, those who have experienced or been part of or connected to a mass shooting,” he said.

Chiefs fan John O’Connor said in a video interview posted by The Kansas City Star that he ran with other members of the crowd into a garage after hearing 15 to 20 shots in quick succession, recounting: “It sounded like fireworks at first.”

Some 800 law enforcement officers were at the rally and the parade that preceded it, including agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

All of the Chiefs players, coaches and staff who attended the victory rally were accounted for and safe, the NFL team said in a statement.

Hours after the bloodshed, the authorities were still sorting out the precise number and details of casualties.

Children’s Mercy Kansas City treated a dozen patients from the rally. Of these, 11 of them were children six to 15 years of age, with nine of 12 victims suffering gunshot wounds, a hospital spokesperson said.

At least five people injured in the shooting were taken to University Health hospital, according to a spokesperson there.

The barrage of gunshots, fired outside near a garage near the station, came at the end of the victory rally following a parade, according to the police.

Video posted on social media showed pandemonium outside, the station with dozens of uniformed police officers, weapons drawn, running into the building as scores of bystanders fled in the opposite direction.

Rapid gunfire was audible in footage posted online by ABC News.

Union Station, a 109-year-old Beaux Arts building that once served as a major US rail hub for passenger and freight traffic, is now home to a museum and visiting attractions and a terminal for Amtrak passenger service.

Its website describes its vision to “be Kansas City’s iconic symbol of inclusion, inspiration, lifelong learning, and its centre for civic celebration”.

The Super Bowl celebration featured Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce on stage with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and other teammates, but Kelce’s pop superstar girlfriend, Taylor Swift, was back on tour in Australia at the time.

Mahomes said on X: “Praying for Kansas City”, followed by several praying-hands emojis.

Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill, who was at the parade, asked on social media for prayers: “Pray that doctors & first responders would have steady hands & that all would experience full healing.”

A statement from the NFL said: “We are deeply saddened by the senseless shooting that occurred in Kansas City today following the Chiefs’ celebration. Our thoughts are with the victims and everyone affected.”

Missouri Governor Mike Parson and his wife were in attendance when shots were fired near the train station, but were safe and secure following the incident, he said in a message posted to X, thanking law enforcement for its response.

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly was also present at the rally when the shots were fired.

The Chiefs on Feb 11 defeated the San Francisco 49ers in overtime to win the Super Bowl, 25-22.

On June 17, 1933, Union Station was the site of an outdoor shoot-out and murder of four law enforcement officers and a criminal fugitive in a notorious incident known as the Kansas City Massacre.

The violence took place on the sixth anniversary of one of the most famous mass shootings in recent US history, when 17 people were killed and 17 more were injured at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The shooter in that incident, a former student who was 19 at the time, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

Mass shootings are common in the United States, where there are more guns than people and about a third of adults own a firearm.

The attack in Kansas City was not even the only shooting to grab US headlines on Feb 14: Four students were shot outside an Atlanta high school, while three police officers were shot during a stand-off in the capital Washington.

The officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Metropolitan Police Department described it as a “critical incident” while nothing that the scene “remains active”.

The police officers are expected to survive, according to media reports.

The New York Times reported that gun violence has been falling in some parts of the country, but Kansas City saw a record number of homicides in 2023. According to police data, there were 183 murders in 2023, more than the previous record of 179 in 2020. REUTERS, NYTIMES, XINHUA