Pretty much since it happened, the only thing we’ve known about the Kansas City parade shooters were that three juveniles were detained with two later formally arrested. Authorities declined to give us any more information, but in light of what happened, it wasn’t difficult to reach conclusions.
Much of the discussion has revolved around this fact, that these two were juveniles who couldn’t lawfully own a firearm.
However, it seems that while Kansas City officials were mum on anything about the two youths, those also weren’t the last arrests.
Two adults have been charged with second-degree murder following the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade last week.
Lyndell Mays, aged 23, and Dominic Miller, aged 18, are facing charges including murder in the second degree, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.
These two individuals are not the two juveniles that had been charged with gun-related offenses and resisting arrest last week.
Prosecutors allege that Mays pulled his gun first during an argument which resulted in others pulling firearms including Miller.
At a press conference on Tuesday, prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said Miller is believed to have fired the shot that killed local DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan. Baker also said at the press conference that the Jackson County Prosecutors Office was ‘not done yet’ and that a number of other suspects who were involved in the shooting are being sought.
Of course, this changes things. A lot of things.
Mays, for example, is old enough to buy any kind of firearm he would want, for example. Miller is old enough to buy long guns.
Which means we need to broaden our scope of understanding a bit.
For example, it seems Miller, the 18-year-old, had a handgun and Mays just finished probation for a gun-related charge.
Mays is accused of firing first. Miller is accused of firing afterward. An autopsy indicated the bullet that killed Lisa Lopez-Galvan came from “the firearm Miller acknowledged possessing and firing.”
The gun Miller possessed was a Taurus G3 9mm.
…Missouri court records show Mays had just completed a two-year probation sentence earlier this month for an altercation in Belton. In 2022, he pleaded guilty in Belton’s municipal court to a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace.Burnside, said Mays pulled a gun outside the city’s community center. Court records show it happened in March of 2021.
Of course, the misdemeanor charge wouldn’t have made Mays a prohibited person, so he could have lawfully purchased a firearm.
Still, we know that at least one of the alleged shooters was in possession of a firearm he couldn’t have lawfully purchased and we still lack a lot of information on either individual.
We also now know that authorities in Kansas City are looking for a number of other suspects.
This isn’t a mass shooting as most people think of them, and not just because so few people were actually killed. This was the kind of thing that happens in our inner cities all the time, only this time it happened in the middle of a massive crowd, creating a lot of innocent bystanders.
What’s more, these shootings typically happen with illegally acquired firearms, so gun control isn’t the answer to preventing something like this from happening again.
That won’t stop people from trying to make it about the guns, though, as we all know only too well.
