Shooting victim near Kansas City Chiefs rally was parade-goer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Moments before nearly two dozen were shot outside Union Station as the Chiefs Super Bowl rally was ending, two others were shot less than a mile away.

Jenipher Cabrera, 20, was wounded a few blocks away at 27th and McGee about 25 minutes earlier.

Kansas City Police have said little about the incident thus far. Chief Stacey Graves said Thursday there wasn’t evidence at that time it was connected to the violence at the rally. Police Monday confirmed there were two victims. The incident is believed to have been a drive-by-shooting.

Cabrera went to the Chiefs Super Bowl parade with her family. They were near the start at the North end. When the last of the players passed by they had an idea.

“I had always wanted to go to the rally the two other times that the Chiefs won, like I wanted to go, but my mom always said it was dangerous,” the UMKC student said.

So they drove to an area near 27th and McGee and started walking toward Union Station hoping to catch the Chiefs on stage.

“We see like two groups of teenage boys in front of us and they like freak out and they started jumping. It looked like they ran away. Me and my family, we were like confused like what’s going on? That’s when we heard the shots that were fired,” Cabrera said.

Suddenly, Cabrera felt pain in her leg and saw a bullet had gone straight through. She wants to thank two men who came to her aid before police arrived.

“They came and they were putting belts around my leg and they were keeping me calm. Keeping my parents calm,” she said.

This all happened at 1:25 p.m., according to police. 27th and McGee is three blocks East of the Liberty Memorial’s South Lawn. Police say a juvenile male was also shot.

25 minutes later, 23 others were shot in front of Union Station, including Lisa Lopez Galvan, who was killed.

“When I heard about the other people, it just really compacted (sic) me because it made me really sad because I never thought I’d go through a situation like this or I would live a situation like this. To see it happening, especially in my city, it’s just like very sad,” Cabrera said.

Cabrera hasn’t been given any updates if there’s any chance the shootings could be related. Police don’t include her and the juvenile in their count of rally victims

But as she continues to recover in the hospital, the young woman who never made it to the Chiefs rally says.

“Everyone that got shot, regardless if it was the same people, regardless if it was like different people, I think everyone should get justice because it was something that was not necessary, not in that moment.”

Cabrera has been working with an occupational therapist and hopes she’ll be released soon. The family has set up a GoFundMe for medical expenses.

Police say both shootings remain under investigation. If you have any information, you are asked to contact the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.