Northwest student witnesses chaos unfold at Chiefs parade

By Cameron Montemayor

One Northwest Missouri State University student was at the Chiefs Super Bowl parade with a group of friends on Pershing Road right in front of Union Station when the celebration quickly turned to disarray.

Blue Springs resident Andrew Bowman told News-Press NOW that he and four friends didn’t know what was going on at first but once they realized the seriousness of the situation, they tried to get out the area as fast as they could.

“It was so loud. I think it was so hard to hear what was going on. But the minute we saw all the police officers, you see a lot of ambulances rushing in. You kind of are in that mindset like, ‘Oh, this is a little bit more serious than just a couple of people who had drank a little bit too much,’” Bowman said.

Shortly after, he said he witnessed an incredible scene as two different individuals ran from authorities just a few feet from them.

“You see people ducking. You see people kind of running, kind of frantic. We saw a kid run past us … there were a lot of kids running. But police officers are chasing him down and then the second guy who ended up getting tackled by two awesome civilians ran by us and actually almost bumped into us on the way trying to escape,” Bowman said.

While he considers himself fortunate to have escaped unharmed, he’s heartbroken by the injuries and loss of life that happened on what should have been a memorable day for so many families.

“And so obviously thoughts and prayers to those families that were affected. And it’s just so hard to fathom … It’s unfortunate that something so special and dear to a lot of people could end so tragically.”

Bowman said poor cell phone service prevented many people from figuring out exactly what was going on in the early stages of the incident. The incident has made him reconsider going to another parade in the future.