The shooting at the end of Wednesday’s Chiefs Super Bowl parade and celebration left everyone in attendance scrambling to find cover, including Chiefs guard Trey Smith.
Smith shared memories of his experience during an appearance on Good Morning America this week. Smith said that the day had played out just like last year’s parade when security guards ran up to him and others urging them to “hurry up, hurry up, hurry up” and clear the area because of the shooting.
Smith said he joined long snapper James Winchester in a closet with around 20 others and credited Winchester with keeping others calm until they were given clearance to make their way to team buses. Those buses were also carrying other parade attendees and Smith recounted his attempt to keep one young fan from feeling scared by the situation.
“This little boy was with his father. He was a little hysterical. He just panicked. He was scared. He doesn’t know what’s going on. I had the WWE belt on me the entire parade and I was thinking, what can I do to help him out? I just handed him the belt and said, ‘Hey buddy, you’re the champion. No one is gonna hurt you. No one’s gonna hurt you, man. We got your back.’ We just started talking about wrestling: ‘Who’s your favorite wrestler? What’s your favorite wrestling match?’ Just little things like that to take his mind off it. He was looking out the window. He was seeing people reacting, trying to get out of the situation. I’m like, ‘Here you go, buddy, this is yours. No one is gonna hurt you. You’re here with us. You’re gonna be protected. You’re going to be A-OK. You’re going to be all right.’”
Smith said he was “pretty angry” about someone dying because of the “senseless violence” that police believe was the result of a dispute between several people. More than 20 others were injured during the incident. Police have detained three people and recovered multiple weapons while saying the investigation remains open.