They were injured at the Super Bowl parade. A month later, they feel forgotten
ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
Last month the mass shooting at the Chiefs' Super Bowl celebration shook Kansas City. Since then, people have donated millions of dollars to the victims. But the community needs to figure out the landscape of need. For instance, who counts as a victim? Our partners at KFF Health News and member station KCUR are following the injured from the parade. Bram Sable-Smith has a story of one family from Osawatomie, Kan.
BRAM SABLE-SMITH, BYLINE: The Barton family is not on the official list of 24 victims tallied by police, but they were hurt physically and emotionally. Jason Barton gave chest compressions to someone he now believes to be one of the men charged with second-degree felony murder. His wife, Bridget, had a scary near-miss, and their 13-year-old daughter had burns on her legs.
BRIDGET BARTON: And from what we can gather, it was from a ricocheted bullet, and the sparks from it burned her legs.
JASON BARTON: And then that bullet ended up in your backpack.
B BARTON: Yeah, and that bullet - later, we found, when I got home that night, the slug in my bag.
SABLE-SMITH: Bridget took it to police in Kansas City the next day and gave a statement. The family has been inundated with messages from close friends and family. It's almost overwhelming, but it's also hard not to feel forgotten as the shooting, and especially its survivors, fade from the headlines. Bridget vented recently on social media.
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B BARTON: Yeah, I don't even want anything other than a your story matters, too, and we want to know how you're doing.
SABLE-SMITH: How they're doing is complicated. Her daughter Gabriella, for instance, had a previous burn on her stomach that reopened when she fell to the ground in the chaos.
GABRIELLA BARTON: When I see that, I just picture my mom trying to protect me and having - seeing everyone run and all that.
SABLE-SMITH: In the days following the shooting, money poured in to support the victims. More than $2 million has been raised so far by GoFundMe campaigns, churches and, most notably, the local United Way. That money could go to medical bills, counseling services, even lost wages. But the first step is discerning who the victims are. The United Way is working with Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker to verify them, and Baker is asking every victim to come forward.
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JEAN PETERS BAKER: We are aware of all of those individuals who had gunshot wounds. We are interested in anyone in the fleeing of this event that maybe fell down. You were trampled. You sprained an ankle. You broke a bone.
SABLE-SMITH: Meanwhile, the Bartons continue navigating their trauma. Jason took a day, but as the primary breadwinner, he sees no choice but to move forward.
J BARTON: I can't take off work. It happened. It sucked. But, you know, it's time to move on.
B BARTON: He's a guy's guy.
SABLE-SMITH: As Jason went back to work, Bridget says, at home, she and her daughter struggled.
B BARTON: Some dishes fell, and Gabriella and I ended up, like, pretty much jumping in each other's arms and crying because it scared the hell out of us.
SABLE-SMITH: Gabriella brought a friend to the parade. The friend was not harmed, but bringing her weighs heavily on Gabriella.
B BARTON: We can tell her all day long, you know, it wasn't your fault, she's not your responsibility, just like I can tell myself it wasn't my fault or my responsibility, but I still bawled on her mom's shoulder, telling her how sorry I was that, you know, I grabbed my kid first.
SABLE-SMITH: The family is thankful that the bullet missed Bridget and that it was just sparks that landed on Gabriella's legs. Jason takes a certain comfort that, compared to other mass shootings, this was more akin to the type of gun violence he's grown accustomed to. There just happened to be a million people nearby.
J BARTON: This crap happens every single day. The only difference is we were here for it.
SABLE-SMITH: I'm Bram Sable-Smith.
SCHMITZ: Bram is with our partner, KFF Health News.
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