VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — It was supposed to be an exciting trip to Kansas City for Shawntrell Paige. He was visiting family and, most of all, celebrating another Chiefs’ Super Bowl win.
“I’m already from Kansas City, so pretty much it’s a yearly thing,” he said. “I told myself I was going to go to the parade if we went to the Super Bowl. Low and behold, I made a plan to go to the parade on Sunday.”
Paige was near the middle of the parade, close to the stage. He saw all the players roll through.
“It was just a great time. I mean, you know, the kids out there laughing those,” he said. “When it comes to the Kansas City Chiefs, it’s all about the Chiefs. So everybody was excited.”
He had to leave early because his nephew got sick.
“Once he got sick, I had to get out of there a little bit early. And unfortunately, you know, I didn’t get to stay like I wanted to. My feet were hurt… I wanted to beat the traffic because I knew it was going to be crazy,” Paige said.
The day’s excitement shifted when gunfire rang out on the parade route.
“I realized something was going on when I was leaving the parking lot,” he said. “Once I left the parking lot, I started hearing a lot of gunshots and a lot of commotion.”
Said Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas: “We became part of a statistic of too many Americans. Those who have experienced a mass shooting.”
Police said there was a dispute between several people that broke out into gunfire.
One mother was killed and 22 others injured in the shooting.
The Chiefs fan is now struggling with this tragedy in his hometown.
“It’s all about a celebration,” Paige said. “You know, we are supposed to be toasting. We are supposed to be having a good time when it comes to football and, you know, sports. But hopefully, this brings us together. And [that] also, this brings us together as a community, as a hometown, and just tells us, ‘hey, let’s stop all of this violence.'”
Paige is working with local Chiefs fans to see what they can do to help.
