10 months ago
70 ARTICLE AD
Dominic Miller and Lyndell Mays face charges of second-degree murder in the shooting that left one person dead and more than 20 injured.
Published On 21 Feb 2024
Two men in the United States have been charged with murder for a gunfight on the fringe of a Super Bowl victory rally in Kansas City, which killed one person and wounded more than 20 others, according to prosecutors and court documents.
Prosecutors in the state of Missouri told reporters on Tuesday that Lyndell Mays and Dominic Miller were charged with second-degree murder and several weapons counts in the shooting, which began in a quarrel over eye contact.
The arrests of Mays and Miller brought to four the number of people facing prosecution in the Valentine’s Day shooting.
Two teenagers were also taken into custody last week and charged as juveniles in family court with firearms offences and resisting arrest. Prosecutors have said they would seek to also charge the two minors as adults and that the investigation was continuing.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said the investigation showed the violence on February 14 stemmed from an argument between Mays and another person who was a stranger to him.
Baker told reporters their quarrel “very quickly escalated,” with Mays pulling out a pistol, followed by others in the vicinity “almost immediately” drawing their weapons.
Police clear the area after shots were fired after the celebration of the Kansas City Chiefs winning Super Bowl LVIII [David Rainey/Reuters]
While both Mays and Miller are charged with murder, Baker said the evidence shows it was a bullet fired from Miller’s weapon that struck and killed Elizabeth Lopez-Galvan, 43, a radio personality.
Police have previously said she was one of 23 people struck by gunfire, including at least nine children, but court documents filed against Mays put the total number of known gunshot victims at 25, including Lopez-Galvan.
Mays told detectives he began firing after someone in the other group said, “I’m going to get you,” which he took to mean they would try to kill him, according to affidavits.
He said he chose a random person from the other group to shoot at as that person was running away, the document says.
Miller initially told investigators that he and his friends began running after hearing gunfire and that he was shot in the back, one affidavit says. When investigators told Miller they had video of him chasing someone in Mays’s group and shooting, Miller admitted to firing four to five shots, the affidavit said.
Authorities did not release the ages of either man but court records show that Mays is in his early 20s and Miller is 18 or 19.
The shooting unfolded following a parade and rally near the city’s landmark Union Station, where police said upward of a million fans had gathered as the Kansas City Chiefs were celebrating their Super Bowl triumph over the San Francisco 49ers.
The broadcast of the NFL championship game on February 11 drew a record television audience, in part due to the heightened media attention surrounding the romance between the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce and pop superstar Taylor Swift. She attended the Super Bowl but was not present for the rally.
Probable-cause statements filed by prosecutors in conjunction with the criminal complaints lodged against Mays and Miller said that both men were themselves hospitalised by gunshot wounds they sustained during the violence.
A conviction for second-degree murder in Missouri is punishable by a prison sentence of 10 to 30 years or life.
The incident was at least the 48th mass shooting in the US in 2024, according to the Gun Violence Archive organisation, which counts those in which four or more people are shot, not including a perpetrator.
This year, so far, it has registered 55 mass shootings.
