Outside the limestone exterior of the century-old Union Station at the southern edge of downtown, a light snowfall washed away the dried blood from the pavement.

The euphoria that swept this city after back-to-back Super Bowl wins by its beloved Chiefs now seemed a distant memory, supplanted by shock and sadness. A deadly shooting at the hometown victory celebration outside the monolithic train depot left one woman dead, more than 20 other people injured – about half of them children – and two teenagers in custody facing gun-related and other charges.

“I think we will be even stronger because of the resistance to a bad person taking away something that’s good, fighting through it and taking it back,” said Joseph Lyons, 53, carrying his 5-year-old son at the entrance to the station’s grand hall

Lyons and his wife had not told their two young children about the mass shooting that happened just two days earlier. So Friday afternoon he chose his words carefully. His voice quavered with emotion at one point. The boy listened; his 3-year-old sister played with friends nearby.

“I mean there’s good and bad in every location. And I think it’s almost like people are going to be out more, to say, ‘I’m not afraid.’ Yeah, we’re here and it was like right outside that door,” he said of the barrage of gunfire that sent thousands of parade-goers in red jerseys running for safety. “We’re going to enjoy Kansas City. It’s our town.”

‘Felt like God is smiling on us’

For many of Kansas City’s more than half a million residents, their obsessive love affair with the Chiefs crescendoed with the overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers one week ago. The community spirit, along with the fortunes and economy, of this oft-forgotten Midwestern city soared with the birth of a sports dynasty: Three Super Bowl wins in five seasons.

“God, I mean, this town was on a sugar high,” said Melinda Henneberger, a Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist at The Kansas City Star.

“People were just really feeling such spirit. It kind of reminded me of hearing about when 9/11 happened. The first thing everyone said was, What a gorgeous day it was… I think people felt like, God is smiling on us.”

Last Wednesday, under the bright winter sunshine and temperatures in the 60s, the city threw a massive party. A sea of fans wearing red, gold and white waved at the triumphant players and coaches riding double-decker buses and open-topped SUVs down Grand Boulevard.

Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, Taylor Swift’s beau and tight end Travis Kelce and head coach and football genius Andy Reid waved back at the adoring crowd packed more than a dozen rows deep. The victory parade ended with a rally outside the historic Union Station – which, after decades of deterioration, was redeveloped with restaurants, shops and a science center to become of symbol of the city’s resurgence.

“These are good guys,” Henneberger said of the stubborn and likable Chiefs. “I’m not really a football person. You know, I might be pilloried for saying that. But even I have to watch this team. They’re so graceful and they’re good people. That matters.”

About 2 p.m., gunfire erupted on the west side of Union Station – an all-to-familiar occurrence in a country that has seen about 50 mass shootings in 2024, according to the Gun Violence Archive. It was the second shooting in a year at a major US sports title celebration after two people were wounded in June as Denver fans left a parade for the NBA’s Nuggets.

‘What is the meaning behind all this?’

The shots exploded near Liliana Villela, 40, who came out with her husband to sell Chiefs’ ponchos, mariachi hats and other apparel imported from their native Mexico and stacked on a dolly she parked near the rally stage. The gunfire seemed to coincide with the explosion of giant confetti cannons. The crowd began to disperse in a chaotic scene.

“It sounded like pop, pop, pop, pop,” said Villela, speaking in Spanish at the same spot outside Union Station one day after the shooting, the pavement still stained with blood.

“People were screaming and running. It was confusing. I turned around and saw a man on the ground facedown, bleeding from his back. Another man went down over there. A woman was on the ground near him. My ears were ringing.”

Her husband, Alvaro Rosas, 40, had been selling the $40 ponchos across the street. At first, he said, he thought his wife was being robbed but realized it was much more than that when he ran past five or six people on the ground.

In a pool of blood not far away was Rosas’ close friend, Elizabeth “Lisa” Lopez-Galvan, a 43-year-old mother of two and beloved Kansas City-area DJ and radio show host. She had been fatally shot. She was at the rally with a large group of friends and family, including her husband, daughter and 22-year-old son. He was shot in the lower leg and later released from a hospital. Two young girls related to her were also injured.

Rosas said he had known Lopez-Galvan for about seven years. She mentored him at an employment agency. Just before her death, he sold her a poncho at a discount and she immediately slipped it on. On his cell phone, Rosas showed a brief phone call he received from her at 1:28 p.m. She told him she wanted another poncho for her cousin but she never arrived to pick it up. The next day, he stood over a patch of dried blood on the pavement where she died.

“Coming back here will help me remember her,” he said. “This was the last place I saw her, the last place we said hi and hugged each other. She was here. You don’t want anyone to die but I keep asking God, ‘Why Lisa? What is the meaning behind all this?’”

Across the street, a Chiefs’ camping folding chair still sat open, facing Union Station amid several empty beer cans and bags of chips. Nearby, a pair of boots were tucked neatly against a building.

Rosas said he is not a football fan but his family’s financial well-being, like that of the city’s – from food and souvenir vendors to downtown restaurants and hotels – benefited from the success of the Chiefs. They have a nice SUV. Their kids go to a private school – which unlike Kansas City’s public schools – did not shut down the day of the parade and rally.

“We’re blessed our children were not here,” he said. “I hope the Chiefs win another Super Bowl, but I won’t be coming to another parade.”

‘Children are more important than our guns’