PA ImagesOn Sunday, February 2, the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years. However, one fan only had two minutes to celebrate.
Shortly after Super Bowl LIV concluded, the people of Missouri’s Kansas City celebrated triumphantly, filling the skies with fireworks.
However, one gentleman suffered a horrendous accident, dying from a catastrophic head injury after attempting to light commercial-grade fireworks in an improvised mortar, according to Kansas City Police.
PA ImagesAs reported by Fox 4 Kansas City, police say the incident occurred in the 9800 block of Richmond at 21:17 – just two minutes after the city’s home team triumphed.
The victim’s name has not been revealed, nor have any further details outside the distinction of a catastrophic head injury. As per KCTV 5, the man was pronounced dead in hospital, and alcohol was not involved. The man is survived by a wife and children, according to neighbours.
PA ImagesOne neighbour, Betty Akers, recounted the moments preceding the firework-related accident:
I came out on the front porch, they started shooting off the fireworks and everything. People driving down the street, hanging out the window, saying: ‘Go Chiefs! Yay, Champions!’
[I] happened to be on this porch when the one exploded clear to the ground and I don’t know how far up. I know that there was some talking, some shouting, but I could not hear with all the other fireworks that would go off. It’s so sad because it was such a wonderful occasion. We were all so happy for the Chiefs and for Kansas City, and they were showing their appreciation.
The firework surge was so intense across Kansas City that it lit up the weather radar, creating a flood of blue and green across the region.
You can check it out in real time in the video below:
🎆How big was the celebration in Kansas City when the #Chiefs won the Super Bowl? The fireworks showed up on radar! The explosion of blue/green between 9:15 pm and 9:30 pm were the fireworks! #ChiefsKingdom @kmbc pic.twitter.com/aW8Brnrh82
— Nick Bender (@NickBenderKMBC) February 3, 2020
Celebrations were rife in the city’s biggest entertainment district, with 20,000 people attending a Super Bowl watch party at Power and Light. KCPD reported that 14 arrests were made across the night, with a further 45 people ejected from the area. The Kansas City Fire Department also responded to 24 medical incidents during and after the game.
Police are also following up on 163 reports of illegal gunfire occurring between 5.30pm and 1.00am. They are hoping for safer celebrations today, February 5, when the Chiefs embark on their official post-win city parade.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.