Alleged Kansas City shooter was ‘fighting the whole time,’ says heroic fan who tackled him
One of the alleged gunmen who opened fire during the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade Wednesday was “fighting the whole time” as he was tackled and subdued by a football fan, according to the heroic bystander.
Paul Contreras knocked over the alleged assailant before law enforcement could step in, telling CNN the gunman was rearing up to spar while he was simply reacting as the horrifying shooting — which left one dead and 22 others injured — unfolded before him.
“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,” Contreras recalled.
Contreras said he and another good Samaritan put all their weight on top of the alleged gunman to try to keep him down as he fought to get away.
“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,” Contreras recalled.
“He’s just fighting to get up,” he said. “But we’re fighting to keep him down. We didn’t want to let him up and take off running because he had one gun. Maybe he had another in that big bulky jacket.”
Contreras noted that he had not seen the suspect fire the gun, nor did he know he had a weapon on his person until someone had yelled out into the crowd to tackle him.
The man was taken away by police following the struggle, which Contreras said left him in a state of shock, noting he and his three daughters sat at the scene for a moment before heading home.
It’s unclear if the person Contreras tackled was one of three people Kansas City police said they detained following the shooting.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade and the arrest of the shooting suspect:
- Lisa Lopez-Galvan, Kansas City Chiefs superfan and mom of 2, killed in Super Bowl parade shooting: ‘Most wonderful, beautiful person’
- Heroic Kansas City Chiefs fans tackle fleeing suspected gunman after Super Bowl Parade shooting, wild video shows
- Revelers recall terrifying moment gunfire erupted at Kansas City Chiefs parade: ‘Felt like a sitting duck’
- All 12 children injured in Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting discharged from hospital: ‘Great news’
- Two adults charged with murder in deadly Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade shooting
- Alleged KC Chiefs parade shooter told cops he was ‘just being stupid’: court docs
- COLUMN: Super Bowl parade shooting turning celebration into crime scene changes everything
Trey Filter, of Witchita, Kansas, told The Post that he also heard people yelling to tackle the suspect.
“I literally remember when I was tackling him, ‘I sure hope this is who they were yelling at me to get.’ Because I just went, ‘Boom!’ … I really don’t recall seeing him coming,” he said in an exclusive interview Wednesday.
He and the other good Samaritans “were elated when we knew we got him,” Filter added.
Filter’s wife, Casey, told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that she moved the gun well out of the suspect’s reach once he had been taken down.
“I didn’t expect to just have it at my feet,” she said, “and I just saw it and just moved it.”
