What was meant to be a jubilant occasion following a Super Bowl win—with the chatter being about the Kansas City Chiefs aiming for a “threepeat”—turned tragic following gunmen opening fire after the Kansas City Chiefs victory parade on Wednesday afternoon.
The latest news is that one person was killed, and at least 21 people, including children, were injured in this episode of gun violence. This is the 48th mass shooting event across the United States of America this year, with 2024 being just six and a half weeks old.
Three people are in custody, according to the police.
The event, which took place in downtown Kansas City, MO, was estimated to have had a crowd of 1 million people in attendance. Chiefs players had just gotten off the stage when the shooting occurred.
The NFL Network covered the parade nationally but pulled away from it once the event concluded. Local stations covering the parade pivoted to covering the breaking news.
The moment in the Channel 41 live stream when they realized something went wrong at the Chiefs Superbowl parade/rally at Union Station. pic.twitter.com/qe3e29yDdl
— Bob Rombach (@Bob_Rombach) February 14, 2024
Meanwhile, the national broadcasters and networks quickly moved to cover the breaking news. These are the approximate times each of the networks broke the news on the air:
Fox News – 3:10 p.m. ET
CNN – 3:12 p.m. ET via an onscreen alert
NewsNation – 3:13 p.m. ET
Scripps News – 3:14 p.m. ET
NBC News NOW – 3:15 p.m. ET
MSNBC – 3:20 p.m. ET
Newsmax – 3:29 p.m. ET
NBC – 3:30 p.m. ET
ABC – 4:00 p.m. ET
CBS – 4:00 p.m. ET
ESPN started covering the breaking news around 3:57 p.m. ET. The network was airing a taped edition of NBA Today during that hour, and towards the end of the show, it broke the news with a live update provided by Malika Andrews.
Meanwhile, FS1 covered the breaking news by simulcasting its sister network, Fox News, at 3:26 p.m. ET. The NFL Network, which pulled away from the parade celebration before the 3 p.m. ET hour, was airing the replay of Super Bowl LVIII when the shooting took place. Its first mention of the shooting was through a ticker alert at 4:21 p.m. ET.