Emily Tavis didn’t feel the bullet go through her lower calf, when gunfire broke out at the end of the Chiefs Super Bowl victory rally at Union Station Wednesday. She was focused on protecting her kids and finding her 15-year-old stepson, who ran when he heard gunshots.
It wasn’t until someone from the medical tent pointed out the bullet hole through Tavis’ pants that she realized she had been hurt.
“I looked down, and it was just blood,” Tavis, 32, said. “It was bad.”
The worker brought Tavis into the tent for treatment. Her husband, 37-year-old Jacob Gooch Sr., was taken in, as well.
The family arrived at Union Station from Leavenworth around 10 a.m., excited to see the Chiefs celebrate their Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers before a dispute among several people ended in a mass shooting that injured at least 23 people and killed one woman, Lisa Lopez-Galvan, according to police. At least a dozen others have also been treated for other injuries related to the incident.
They found a spot with a friend near the left side of the stage, where their kids — ages 7, 13 and 15 — could see the team. It felt like the “kids’ zone,” Tavis said, as children who had just met played football and listened to music playing over the speakers.
“Chiefs kingdom was uniting there,” Tavis said. “People we didn’t know, we were talking to, we were having fun with. We had a common love for that.”
As they exited the rally, Tavis and Gooch said a woman yelled at a group of people, telling them to get out and that they “don’t need to do this here,” as if she was breaking up an altercation. Moments later, someone near the woman started shooting, Tavis said.
Tavis heard at least 10 gunshots and leapt on top of her 7-year-old son to protect him. Gooch Sr. shoved his 13-year-old daughter out of the way. They didn’t yet know where Jacob Gooch Jr. was.
When the gunfire broke out, Gooch Sr. thought he heard fireworks at first. He felt heat and saw smoke coming from his ankle but assumed a spark hit him.
Crowds ran past Gooch Sr. He tried to run from the chaos, but he fell to the ground and Army crawled as best he could. Eventually, Tavis helped him up. Police and paramedics helped him into the medical tent, where there were at least five or six other people being treated, he said.
Officials kept their younger children away from the tent, which made Tavis grateful. She didn’t want them to see the bloodied fans with their clothes cut open and children being taken away for treatment. It would likely be even more trauma on top of the chaos they had already witnessed.
The couple kept calling Jacob Gooch Jr., trying to learn if the 15-year-old had made it to safety.
Eventually, they got in touch with him and learned he had been shot, as well. As Gooch Jr. ran from the shooting, he had been shot in the bottom of his foot. The bullet remains lodged between his bones a day later, his father said.
The family rode together in the ambulance to University Health.
There, they learned her husband had been shot in the ankle, and the bullet left two exit wounds in his foot. Multiple bones in his foot are broken and could take three to six months to heal. A bullet also went through Tavis’ lower calf, leaving a wound that makes it hard for her to walk.
Tavis said she plans to take her husband back to the emergency room Thursday morning. His wound continued to bleed overnight and into Thursday morning, and part of his bone is protruding.
In the days following, Tavis said she’s focused on her husband and their kids and helping them heal physically and emotionally.
She hugged Jacob Gooch Jr. and cried over the incident with him. He’s tried to stay positive, she said.
Tavis and her stepdaughter have talked about trauma and that it’s OK to cry or express her emotions or thoughts as she feels them.
“Speak about it,” Tavis said she told her stepdaughter. “We’re the only ones who know what we see, what we felt, what we did. We are each other’s resources.”
As he heals, Gooch Sr. said he hopes whoever is responsible for the shooting is brought to justice.
Kansas City Police Chief Stacy Graves that three people, including one adult and two juveniles were detained following the incident. Several firearms were recovered, but Graves didn’t specify the types of guns.
The victims ranged in age from 8 to 47, Graves said. Half of them were under 16.
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