KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In recent years, mass shootings have increased in the United States. It's changed the public's outlook on safety, and in turn, it has changed the way large gatherings are organized.
"I don't want us to have to in our country, for every big event, think about a concern of being shot," Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas said on Feb. 14, 2024, after a mass shooting following the Chiefs Super Bowl rally outside Union Station.
Twenty-two people were injured and Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a KKFI 90.1 FM DJ, was killed.
As Kansas City has had time to reflect, officials have looked for ways to increase safety.
"We have had incidents in our city in the past, and we always try to make sure that we figure out how we can make sure everybody is as safe as possible," Lucas said on Jan. 31, 2025, as Super Bowl LIX celebration talks were ongoing.
After a police chase down the Chiefs Super Bowl parade route in 2020, security was tightened for the following Super Bowl parade in 2023.
Succeeding the Chiefs rally shooting in 2024, officials decided the rally tradition would not continue into 2025.
Tami Richter serves on the board of directors for Event Safety Alliance. The organization works globally to educate and advocate for safe gatherings.
"Events have grown exponentially, not only in size but in complexity," she said.
Richter said she noticed a shift about 15 to 20 years ago.
“One of the most important things that I’ve seen over the years is that there has to be coordination, there has to be planning with the event organizer and city officials, public safety, emergency management," Richter said.
Those coordinated efforts were ongoing throughout Super Bowl LIX celebration preparations in Kansas City.
“There are more conversations to be had, frankly just from the internal city side, let alone add in the Chiefs, the Missouri Department of Public Safety, Kansas City’s police department, the sports commission and others," Lucas said to reporters prior to the Super Bowl.
The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department provided a similar comment to KSHB 41 News.
"The KCPD will continue to work with our partners on the collaboration and discussion of different ideas and ways that we can create a more safe, secure, and enjoyable environment for all attending any event held in our city," KCPD said in a statement to KSHB 41 News on Jan. 28, 2025.
Lucas acknowledged that official celebration plans are released at the last minute. It's a protocol the city has followed for previous large-scale events and said it would have continued to follow had the Chiefs won Super Bowl LIX. Officials say it's a decision made to protect the security operations of such large events in Kansas City.
When asked what part the public plays in safety at large events, Richter recalled what she heard following the Chiefs rally shooting.
“There was a news report after the parade last year, and it was a 10-year-old boy who had been struck by a bullet, and he said that he ran behind a trash can because that is what he had been taught in his active shooter training at school," Richter said.
It's that education and awareness Richter says can save lives.
"It could've been inches from my whole future," Samuel Arellano, the 10-year-old shooting survivor, told KSHB 41 News following the shooting.
Social media has also become a helpful intelligence tool when it comes to large gatherings.
“We can also look at using intelligence, info gathering from social media, to see if there are any sorts of groups that are coming that are opposing groups, that may be in conflict with each other," Richter said.
Investigators determined the shooting at the conclusion of the rally happened after a verbal argument between two groups. Six people have been charged including three adults and three teenagers.
Investigators say they found social media posts of one of the juveniles brandishing guns with other suspects involved in the shooting.
"You can learn so much from social media," Richter said.
Richter says providing the public with information prior to events is critical.
“It can be as simple as signage or sending out an email to a ticketed event for everybody that has purchased a ticket to tell them, alright, this is what you should expect, these are where your exits are, this is how you should park, these are the clear lanes in case we need to evacuate," Richter said.
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KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.