Alleged Kansas City shooter was ‘fighting the whole time’ says man who tackled him
Paul Contreras, along with another good samaritan, helped subdue the alleged assailant before law enforcement officials arrived on the scene
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A Kansas Chiefs fan who tackled an alleged gunman at the scene of the shooting at the teams’s Super Bowl victory parade says the man was “fighting the whole time” as he was detained.
Paul Contreras, along with another good samaritan, helped subdue the alleged assailant before law enforcement officials arrived on the scene.
Police have detained three people following the shooting in Kansas City on Wednesday, that left one person dead and 22 others – some of whom are children – with gunshot injuries.
Footage of Mr Contreras’ heroic actions were caught on video that was circulated on social media. His daughter, Alyssa Marsh Contreras also filmed the aftermath of the takedown.
Kansas City Chief of Police Stacey Graves said she was aware that fans had assisted law enforcement in detaining the suspect, and was still trying to confirm whether one of the three suspects in custody was indeed tackled by members of the public.
Speaking to CNN, Mr Contreras recalled the incident, saying that his intervention was “just a reaction”.
“I just heard somebody yelling to stop this guy, tackle him, and he was coming in the opposite direction,” he said. “You don’t think about it. It’s just a reaction.”
“He got close to me, I got the right angle on him, and I hit him from behind. And when I hit him from behind, I either jarred the gun out of his hand or out of his sleeve because as I’m taking him down to the ground, I saw the gun on the ground.”
Mr Contreras said he had put “all my weight” on the individual, who was wearing a “big bulky jacket” with a hood that covered his face, and was helped by another member of the public.
“I was holding him down – I didn’t know if he tried to bite me... so I took my hand and put it outside to hold him down with a jacket in between us,” he said.
“We were fighting each other. He wants to get up while I’m holding him down. Then another guy helps me and then you know, it just seemed like a long time but it’s probably like 15 or 30 seconds.
“He was fighting the whole time, you know, fighting the whole time. And we were fighting him to keep them down. We didn’t want to let him up and take off running because he had one gun. Maybe he had another one in that big bulky jacket.”
He added that he had not seen the alleged suspect fire the gun, nor did he know it was on his person until it had fallen to the ground during the altercation.
After the struggle was over, the man was taken away by police, though Mr Contreras said they had not spoken to him afterwards. He had been at the event with his three daughters, he said.
Alyssa Marsh Contreras said she had stayed by her father’s side during the incident.
“I turned back around and noticed my dad along with another good samaritan running, jumping and tackling the second offender,” Ms Contreras said, speaking to alongside her father.
“As they tackled him, the weapon fell out. A cop was able to secure that. After that, I just remember yelling, ‘Cops! We need cops over here. Somebody come over here!’”
She told CNN: “It all happened so fast. I think the most alarming thing was when we saw cops chasing people and then seeing the young teen or kid just completely coming at us.
“And then I noticed just everybody in the crowd just kind of scatters and runs. So from that moment on, I knew ‘Okay, something wasn’t right’. And so see my little sister along with my older sister just completely run.
“I didn’t want to leave my dad’s side because who knew what could have happened or if they needed help. So I was just there to make sure you know, his hat, his phone, his wallet didn’t go missing in the process of him getting this offender down.”
Ms Contreras said the incident had taken place shortly after the celebrations were over when members of the public were returning to their cars.
“You just heard ‘pop pop pop pop,’ and like I said we’re at a celebration and I think a lot of people thought it was fireworks because nobody really ran or anything,” she said.