Multiple victims and their relatives filed suit this week against Kansas City as well as event planners and three gun sellers over the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade mass shooting last year, claiming the tragedy that left one person dead and nearly two dozen wounded could have been prevented.
The civil lawsuit was filed in Jackson County, Missouri on June 2 by Erika Reyes, Esmeralda Ortiz and Kathleen Martinez on behalf of their minor children. Two of the plaintiffs are cousins and two are related by marriage, their attorneys told local outlets.
Reyes’ minor children were struck by gunfire in the Feb. 14, 2024 incident, which claimed the life of one person and wounded 22 others, including 11 children.
Just before 2 p.m. that day, 12 people pulled guns and at least six fired an estimated 40 shots into a crowd of roughly one million people who attended the parade celebrating Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and their Kansas City Chiefs’ repeating as champions with a 25-22 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.
The lawsuit cites a string of events that should have led officials to better prepare security for the big celebration — going so far as to hark back to a shootout in 1933 that came to be known as the “Kansas City Massacre.”
On June 17 of that year, a gang led by “Pretty Boy” Floyd, a notorious bank robber contemporary of John Dillinger, ambushed officers outside of Union Station, close to where the 2024 shooting occurred, as they tried to transport Frank Nash, another Depression-era gangster who was in federal custody.
A shootout ensued leaving four officers including FBI and Nash dead.
Far more recent incidents, including a shooting in January 2024 that left one person dead, were also mentioned in the suit. A few weeks later, in Crown Center, located minutes from the station, another shooting left six people injured.
The lawsuit claims last year’s mass shooting “was a preventable calamity, borne of systemic failures and negligence from the top down.”
The mothers are suing the following event planners: the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission, O’Neill Events & Marketing, Flyover Event Co. LLC. The following gun sellers are also named as defendants in the complaint: Frontier Justice LS, the Ammo Box LLC and R.K. S.
The city itself is a defendant, as well.
Two 9-mm handguns were used in the mass shooting. The lawsuit states the weapons were “designed to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible.”
Additionally, “the defendants each caused or contributed to cause the injuries” of the victims, the lawsuit alleges.
The plaintiffs allege the defendants were negligent in not providing proper security at the event, leaving hundreds of thousands of individuals vulnerable.
The area was “completely devoid of physical security measures, such as checkpoints and metal detectors, which are necessary at mass gathering events,” the filing accuses.
Since the city’s Union Station, close to where the 2024 shooting occurred, faced another shootout in 1933 after a gang tried to free mobster Frank Nash from police custody, plaintiffs argue officials should’ve taken action to protect parade attendees.
Four police officers and Nash died in that incident.
Officials “knew or should have known the consequences of inadequate security measures, including the injury and death of their invitees,” the lawsuit states.
The Independent has emailed Kansas City officials for comment.
Fedo Antonia Manning, 22, Ronnel Dewayne Williams, Jr., 21, and Chaelyn Hendrick Groves, 19, are also being sued. In March 2024, the individuals were charged with illegal firearms trafficking and straw purchases of firearms.
Authorities have accused Manning of allegedly purchasing some of the firearms used in the shooting from Frontier Justice. The defendant purchased 40 firearms between May 2022 and January 2022, the suit alleges. About half of those were bought from the company.
The lawsuit further alleges Manning entered a plea agreement with federal prosecutors over the alleged crimes.
The Independent has emailed Frontier Justice and Ammo Box for comment. Plaintiffs claim the companies “acted with complete indifference or with reckless disregard for the rights of others” by selling the firearms.
In a statement provided to Fox 4, a representative for the city 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.”
