2 men charged with murder in Kansas City Super Bowl parade shooting

Two men were charged with murder in the shooting that killed a person and injured at least 22 others after a parade celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl win last week, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Dominic Miller of Kansas City and Lyndell Mays of Raytown, Mo., face charges of second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker (D) said in a news conference.

Mays was arrested over the weekend, and Miller was arrested Monday night, said Michael Mansur, a spokesperson for Baker. Both men, who suffered gunshot wounds according to court records, remain in the hospital with law enforcement officers guarding them, Baker said.

It was unclear whether Mays and Miller had retained attorneys as of Tuesday afternoon. Both are being held on a $1 million bond, prosecutors said.

At Tuesday’s news conference, Baker indicated that charges would be filed against more people and did not answer questions about how many shooters there were or the numbers and types of firearms they used. Two juveniles were charged with gun-related offenses and resisting arrest last week.

Prosecutors released new information Tuesday about what they’d previously described as a personal dispute, detailing how Mays and Miller allegedly drew firearms during a verbal altercation.

“That argument very quickly escalated,” Baker said.

On Feb. 14, Mays had been arguing with another person near the Union Station entertainment hub right after a rally where Chiefs players and staffers had addressed a crowd of thousands. The men did not know each other, Baker said.

A person who was standing with Mays later told police that she saw a group of four men approach him, including one who had a firearm hanging out from their backpack, according to a probable cause statement. The witness, who was not identified in the publicly available document, said one of the four men asked Mays what he was looking at. According to the documents, both the witness and Mays got into a “verbal confrontation” with the group.

The argument spiraled and Mays took out a firearm first and “almost immediately,” Baker said, other people also pulled their firearms, including Miller, who had been in a crowd of people nearby.

Mays had been chasing after an unidentified person, who the documents state was unarmed, and appeared to be firing. He was then hit by gunfire and fell, according to the documents. Mays later told police he had drawn a firearm first and had fired two shots. Police recovered a stolen Glock 9mm handgun on the ground near where Mays had fallen, the documents say.

Officers came across Miller lying on a road median, the documents say. A person had seen Miller running while yelling, “I’m shot.” The witness saw that Miller was carrying a firearm and tackled him, taking the weapon away, according to the documents. The person who tackled him was not named in the documents, but several bystanders spoke out after the shooting, recounting how they sprang into action as the celebration descended into a frenzy of fans fleeing for safety.

When detectives interviewed Miller, he said he had been carrying a 9mm handgun and fired four or five shots, according to the document. Detectives said a bullet recovered from the autopsy of the woman who died in the shooting, Elizabeth “Lisa” Lopez-Galvan, matched the gun Miller fired.

Two days after shooting, when detectives asked Mays why he had taken out a firearm during the argument, he responded with: “Stupid, man. Just pulled a gun out and started shooting,” according to a probable cause statement.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” Mays continued, the document says. “Just being stupid.”

If convicted for second-degree murder, the highest of the charges, Mays and Miller could face a sentence of up to a life sentence under Missouri law, Baker said on Tuesday.

Though they did not attend the news conference where the charges were announced, Lopez-Galvan’s family wrote a statement for Baker to read during it. Baker said the family chose not to attend, as they wanted to focus on Lopez-Galvan’s memorial.

Lopez-Galvan, 43, played Tejano music as a DJ, according to radio station KKFI. Her son was shot in the leg and was among the more than 20 who were injured. A fundraiser in her memory had raised more than $375,000 as of Tuesday afternoon, buoyed by large donations from celebrities such as Taylor Swift.

In their statement Tuesday, Lopez-Galvan’s family thanked the agencies investigating the shooting and bringing charges against those involved.

“Though it does not bring back our beloved Lisa, it is comforting to know that the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office and the KCPD made it a top priority to seek justice for Lisa, the other shooting victims and those who had to witness this tragedy unfold in the Kansas City community,” the statement said.