Following today’s shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Championship parade that left at least one dead and over 20 injured, including multiple children, it may be time to ask the question: is it safe to have parades following championships? This isn’t just about the Kansas City Chiefs, the NFL, or American sports, this is about everyone.
No matter how you look at the issue, the fact remains the same: someone is dead, and others may not survive. Yes, parades are fun, and coming together to celebrate a championship is a tradition that spreads around the world, but over the past few years, there have been multiple incidents that have taken place at team celebrations, and the Chiefs parade was the latest in a growing list of incidents.
Before I go any further, I want it to be clear that this isn’t a politically motivated post. The point of this article is to inform and let readers decide for themselves how they want to feel about the issue.
World Cup Argentina 2022
Following Argentina’s historic World Cup win in 2022, the country of Argentina celebrated and declared a National Holiday. Four million people filled the streets to celebrate, but following the celebration, some decided to take advantage of the situation and riot, resulting in looting, vandalism, and even the death of a few Argentinian citizens.
The event was deemed so dangerous that the team decided to opt out of riding in the traditional open bus and instead flew in a helicopter above the city. In total, the police had to deal with over 800 emergency phone calls in the day and night of the celebration.
Vancouver Saskatchewan 1966
This one is a very old example, but perhaps the best example of what can happen when things really go south. Following a Saskatchewan win in the 1966 Grey Cup (the CFL version of the Super Bowl), thousands of people flooded the streets following the parade and began to riot.
Rioters threw bottles and other objects at police and caused thousands of dollars in damages to buildings and other city property. In total, 426 people were arrested in just one night.
Denver Nuggets 2023
This one happened just this past year when, during the Nuggets celebration parade, just months before today’s shooting with the Kansas City Chiefs. There was a shooter who shot and injured two people as people were leaving the celebration from downtown. Although the shooting was apparently unaffiliated with the parade, one has to wonder if the three would have been in the area if the parade had not happened.
An officer was also seriously injured when his leg was run over by a firetruck. Fans had gone through the barricades, and the officer, while trying to push back, got pushed down where his leg was run over.
Kansas City Chiefs 2024
Breaking Video of Heroic Kansas City fans tackling one of the shooters pic.twitter.com/cAxL9Kox8d
— Fantasy Fanatics (@FFB_Fanatics) February 14, 2024
If you’ve missed what happened today at the Kansas City Chiefs celebration, following the parade, a shooter opened fire into a crowd and killed at least one and injured 23 others (and counting). Despite more than 800 law enforcement officers being at the parade, the amount of people attending outnumbered the police by more than 50 to 1. People were seen running in every direction as they tried to protect themselves from the shots firing into the crowd.
There are still not a lot of details of everything that happened; however, three people have been taken into custody.
Conclusion
Again, I’m not going sit here and tell people what to believe when it comes to gun control or large gatherings, but I do want to lay out the facts and show examples that today’s incident with the Kansas City Chiefs was not an isolated event that will never happen again. I’m not sure what kind of precautions can be taken with a group of people this big, but it’s something that should be discussed.
Losing one life today at the Kansas City Chiefs parade is tragic. But what will happen when one turns ten, twenty, or fifty? Hopefully, it will never get to that point.
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