By Brad Brooks
(Reuters) – Three men face federal firearms charges in connection with a mass shooting at a Super Bowl victory rally in Kansas City last month, a U.S. prosecutor said on Wednesday.
None of the men, charged with firearms trafficking and straw purchases of firearms, are alleged to have taken part in the Feb. 14 shooting that killed one person and wounded more than 20, U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore of the Western District of Missouri said.
She said the three helped facilitate the violence.
“At least two of the firearms recovered from the scene of the mass shooting at Union Station were illegally purchased or trafficked,” Moore said as she announced the charges.
Earlier, state prosecutors charged two men with murder for taking part in the gunfight, which started as a quarrel over young men making eye contact as the Super Bowl rally wound down.
Two teenagers were also taken into custody after the shooting and charged as juveniles in family court with firearms offenses and resisting arrest.
In the federal cases announced on Wednesday, Fedo Antonia Manning, 22, was charged in a 12-count federal criminal complaint while Ronnel Dewayne Williams, Jr., 21, and Chaelyn Hendrick Groves, 19, were charged in a four-count complaint, federal prosecutors said in a written statement.
It was not immediately clear if any of the men yet had lawyers.
According to court documents, 12 people pulled out guns during the violence at the Super Bowl rally, and at least six people fired their weapons.
Prosecutors allege that Manning purchased an AM-15 .223-caliber pistol that was recovered from the scene of the shooting. The charges against him allege he trafficked dozens of firearms.
The complaint against Williams alleges he purchased a Stag Arms .300-caliber pistol also recovered from the scene of the shooting. Williams allegedly purchased the firearm for Groves, who accompanied him to a gun show but was too young to legally purchase the firearm himself.
The parade and rally celebrating the Kansas Chiefs’ Feb. 11 Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers brought more than a million fans to the area around the city’s historic Union Station.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Longmont, Colorado; editing by Donna Bryson and Nia Williams)
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