Following a deadly shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ 2024 Super Bowl victory parade Wednesday, one teen is sharing how Head Coach Andy Reid was there to comfort him in the chaos.
Gabe Wallace, a high school sophomore was separated from his friend when a gunman opened fire outside of Kansas City’s Union Station Wednesday in a mass shooting that would ultimately injure 30 people and leave one person dead.
Wallace was attending the parade with his friend Hank Hunter when the shooting broke out shortly after the Chiefs players left the stage. After being separated in all of the commotion, Wallace says he fell while trying to climb over a fence and was eventually ushered inside Union Station for safety.
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There, he was met by none other than the man that “Chiefs Kingdom” affectionately calls, “Big Red,” Andy Reid.
Andy Reid Comforts Teen Following Deadly Shooting at Super Bowl Victory Parade
“Andy Reid was trying to comfort me, which was nice,” an emotional Wallace told The Kansas City Star. “He was kind of hugging me, just like, ‘Are you OK, man? Are you OK? Just please breathe.’ He was being real nice and everything.”
The teen said Andy Reid eventually “left to check on other people,” along with other Chiefs players who reportedly helped “calm panicked kids” before the team was rushed out of Union Station and back to Arrowhead Stadium.
As Wallace remained inside Union Station still separated from his friends, his mind was racing.
“My friends are dead — that’s what’s going through my mind,” Wallace said. “I’m literally thinking, ‘What if my friends are dead?… Are they alive, or are they just lying there on the floor just bleeding out?’ I have no idea.”
A half an hour later, Wallace was reunited with his friend Hunter. The two shared an emotional embrace, “I love you, man,” Wallace said. “I love you.”
The gunfire erupted around 2 p.m. local time following the conclusion of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade with more than 800 police officers in the area. Of the 30 victims, 11 were children who are expected to recover.
