Her first thought was that a fireworks display had malfunctioned.
Iolan Winter Snyder was among the legions of Kansas City Chiefs fans — a crowd estimated in the hundreds of thousands — who had flocked to downtown Kansas City Wednesday to watch the team’s parade and rally for winning Super Bowl LVIII.
What she didn’t realize until afterward was just how close she and her friends were to being at the epicenter of a mass shooting that injured 22 and resulted in the death of a Johnson County woman.
“I was a little shaken up,” Snyder said upon returning to Iola Wednesday evening. “My nerves have finally calmed down a little bit.”
According to media reports, the shooting occurred just west and south of Union Station, roughly 45 feet from where Snyder and two family friends were standing during the rally.
The scariest part, Snyder noted, was she was standing shoulder to shoulder with one of the accused shooters.
SNYDER’S GROUP arrived late Wednesday morning, not long before the team’s victory parade was set to begin in downtown Kansas City.
Initially setting up camp alongside Kessler Road, which borders a grassy area separating Union Station from the World War I Memorial to the south, and where the bulk of the fans gathered to cheer on the players and coaches as they spoke, Snyder and friends were able to make their way almost to the front of the lawn.
“I’m surprised we got as close as we did.”
As the revelry began, Snyder was worried about being able to hear the speakers, so they decided to move even closer, settling on the other side of a cluster of trees and a small barricade.
“If we hadn’t moved, we would have been right in the middle of it,” she said.
WEDNESDAY’S rally started much like the previous two rallies Snyder had attended, the first in 2020, the second in 2023.
As with the other two, the goal wasn’t to watch the parade, but to hear Coach Andy Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and other players address the fans.
While the weather was significantly better for the most recent rally, Snyder noted the crowd was significantly less raucous than the first two.
“It was almost quieter,” she noted.
