Teen charged with felonies for firing weapon, resisting arrest in Chiefs rally shooting
One of the two 16-year-olds arrested and held in juvenile detention since the mass shooting after the Kansas City Chiefs rally is now facing a felony charge of firing a gun and may be tried as an adult, according to court officials.
The teenager is accused of a single felony count of unlawful weapon use for shooting at a person. He also is charged with felony-level resisting arrest.
The Office of the Juvenile Officer amended the charges against the teenager on Tuesday, according to a news release from the Family Court division of Jackson County Circuit Court.
The criminal charges against the one teenager rise to the threshold under Missouri law where a Family Court division judge will determine if he is tried as an adult.
That process, known as certification, is mandatory in certain cases of serious criminal allegations. Some certifications in Jackson County take weeks or months before such a decision is reached
A second teenager, also 16 years old, remains held in juvenile detention on “gun related” charges.
Authorities have not disclosed the exact criminal charge, or further detailed the allegations, though the statement from the court on Tuesday says the second teenager’s charges “do not rise to the level of the more serious felony charges where a juvenile is eligible for a certification hearing.”
The latest update on the teenagers comes more than one month after 25 people were shot outside Union Station at the close of the Kansas City Chiefs victory rally. Authorities have said the shooting stemmed from a dispute between two groups that quickly ended in gunfire.
Killed at the rally was 43-year-old Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a Johnson County mother of two and beloved radio DJ. Among the injured bystanders were children, who made up roughly half of those shot on Feb. 14.
Last month, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced charges against two men — Lyndell Mays, 23, and Dominic Miller, 18. Each is charged with felony murder and other crimes in the death of Lopez-Galvan.
Authorities allege Mays drew and fired first. Miller allegedly told police he shot at a person who had been actively firing a gun.
Federal prosecutors last week said three men had been charged as straw purchasers of two firearms recovered from the shooting scene.
An affidavit prepared by an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says at least six people are believed to have fired weapons and 12 possibly brandished firearms based on evidence of the case.
Local Kansas City authorities, meanwhile, have declined to say whether other suspects are under investigation.
The Star’s Katie Moore contributed to this report.
