COLUMBIA — A Columbia award-winning photographer walked along the street with Chiefs players at the Super Bowl parade in Kansas City Wednesday to take photos.

Scott Schaefer runs a photography business with his wife, Shannon, and this was his first time taking pictures of Kansas City Chiefs players.

“Pretty cool experience. First Super Bowl parade for me and the first time I’ve got to shoot photos of Patrick Mahomes and [Travis] Kelce, and all the other guys on the team,” Schaefer said.

The parade led to Union Station, where thousands of fans were waiting to start a rally. As the rally finished and the crowd started to disperse, shots were fired on the west side of Union Station. 

As Schaefer and his partner prepared to leave Kansas City to head back to Columbia, they heard spectators shouting about a shooting incident at Union Station.

“You could already hear sirens and stuff going on, and a couple of the bars had open patios. We were trying to listen in like, ‘Okay I think there’s been shots fired down at Union Station,’ Schaefer said.

Twenty-one people were injured and a woman was killed. Half of those injured were under the age of 16. Three people, including two juveniles, were detained, and guns were recovered. 

Schaefer said he went to text his wife about the shooting, but he didn’t mention his safety right away.

“I texted my wife Shannon as we were walking out like ‘I think there was a shooting,'” Schaefer said. “She didn’t know where my location was. She was worried about me, but I was never in any danger.” 

Schaefer said he thought about the possibility of a dangerous situation at the parade the night before, but he didn’t expect a shooting.

“I did even consider, ‘Should I still share these pictures or not?'” Schaefer said. “But I didn’t want all that happiness to be ruined by whoever this person or people were who wanted to cause harm and take away all this fun.”

Editor’s Note: Schaefer previously worked at KOMU 8 as a videographer.