A man at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade described the harrowing moment when he tackled a man suspected in the deadly shooting that broke out Wednesday amid the celebration.
Paul Contreras told media outlets that he was at the parade with his daughter near Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, when he heard someone yell to stop a man and tackle him as the crowd erupted into chaos. At least one person was killed and 22 others were injured in the shooting.
“You don’t think about it. It’s just a reaction,” Contreras, a resident of Omaha, Nebraska, said in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett. “He got close to me, I got the right angle on him. And when I hit him from behind, I either jarred the gun out of his hand or out of his sleeve. … I see the gun on the ground.”
“I’m putting all my body weight on him, and another Good Samaritan comes over,” he said. “We’re just putting our weight on him, and he’s just fighting to get up, but we’re fighting to keep him down.”
Video from the scene appears to show Contreras run toward the suspect and tackle him before police arrive. Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said at a news conference Wednesday that she knew about the video of bystanders tackling a suspect but could not yet confirm that the person tackled was one of the three people detained by police.
Authorities said they had three suspects in custody after the shooting and had recovered at least one firearm from the scene.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said more than 800 police officers were staffed to attend the parade on Wednesday but added that the shooting showcases the difficulty officials have keeping the public safe when gunfire can “disrupt anything” in seconds.
“I mean, that’s what happens with guns,” Lucas said at the news briefing. “We had security in any number of places, eyes on top of buildings and beyond. And there is still a risk to people. And I think that’s something that all of us who are parents, who are just regular people living each day, have to decide what we wish to do about it.”
“Parades, rallies, schools, movies — it seems like almost nothing is safe.”