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(NewsNation) — Alyssa Marsh-Contreras witnessed the moment her dad, Paul Contreras, tackled an alleged suspect in the Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting before police arrived.
“It all started off as a celebration. As soon as the celebration was done, we heard eight to 10 pops. Everybody assumed it was fireworks of some sort … until seconds later, we see multiple cops chasing them,” Marsh-Contreras said Wednesday on “Banfield.”
Marsh-Contreras said her dad jumped on the offender’s back and pushed him face-down to the ground along with another good Samaritan.
As the two men attempted to subdue the person, a gun fell out of the suspect’s pocket, she said. Marsh-Contreras described it as a sawed-off shotgun about a foot long.
The alleged gunman didn’t say anything at the time he was tackled. Marsh-Contreras said the suspect’s jacket was covering him as her father and the other good Samaritan held him down.
Marsh-Contreras described the person as a “fairly young, upper-teens” Black male wearing what she described as a gold “worker’s jacket,” a white shirt or hoodie underneath and what she said looked to be sweatpants.
The person that Marsh-Contreras’ father tackled was the second alleged offender they saw trying to escape.
The first, who was caught by police, Marsh-Contreras saw was wearing an all-black jumpsuit. He was sitting down handcuffed, which is why she believes the second person ran back toward the crowd.
Marsh-Contreras said she and her father have not yet talked to the police about what they witnessed, explaining that at the time of the shooting, police were trying to secure and clear the area to make sure people were safe.
“It’s just so crazy to see something like this. You expect something like this to happen so far away from you, and to see it on the news,” Marsh-Contreras said. “For it to be just a couple yards, a couple feet away, it’s very scary.”
At least three people have been taken into custody.
Nine children were among the 22 gunshot victims after multiple shots were fired into the crowd Wednesday near the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally in Missouri, authorities said.
One person was killed, a mother of two, identified by her radio station, KKFI.
The chaotic scenes unfolded as more than 800 officers managed the massive crowd gathered for the celebration in the heart of Kansas City. Witnesses described a sudden surge of panic as attendees attempted to flee the area after hearing the gunshots.