The Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade was not one for celebration as a shooting took place that took the life of a person and injured 22 others. In the midst of the chaos, Chiefs offensive lineman Trey Smith had an interaction with a child that helped him get through the traumatic event and it involved professional wrestling according to an interview with Good Morning America Friday morning.
Smith using a wrestling championship belt to calm child during shooting
In the past several years, the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) sends the Super Bowl Champions a custom-made championship belt that usually has the flare of the team. It was no different this season as the Chiefs got titles, but Smith was selfless and used it to help calm down the young boy as both and others were in a closet waiting for the situation to calm itself down.
“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. We got your back,'” Smith said. “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.’”
The events leading up to the shooting told by Smith
Smith also recounted the events of celebrating with the Chiefs fans because of the Super Bowl win until shots were fired. Correspondingly, he remembers security trying to get them away from the scene as that prompted Smith to feel like it was a “life or death situation” which led to himself and other people into a closet.
“Just remember the security guard just ushering us through the doors quickly saying ‘come on, hurry up, hurry, hurry up,’ then it was ‘Ok, this is not a joke, this is a life or death situation,” Smith said. :Right before I run in there, there was a little kid in front of me, just grabbed him and yanked him in there and tell him “you’re hopping in there with me buddy.’ Not sure how many people were in then closet, maybe 20 plus.”
Smith would also add to his appearance on Good Morning America that he is “pretty angry” about the “senseless violence” that occurred.
Consequently, while the cause of the shooting wasn’t determined the day of, it is now being reported by ESPN that “authorities in Kansas City said Thursday that the mass shooting that left one person dead and 22 injured at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration appeared to have stemmed from a dispute among several people.”
Subsequently, the Chiefs were celebrating their Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers this past Sunday as they captured their third championship of the 21st century. However, that is in the rearview mirror as people mourn for the one life loss and the 22 that were injured at the event.
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