Men who tackled suspect at Chiefs rally honored as heroes
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — A tag team tackle by Kansas City Chiefs fans at a Chiefs victory rally was perhaps more important than any in the Super Bowl.
On Monday, the two men were honored for their heroics.
When a person believed to be a juvenile with a gun ran by after the shooting on Feb. 14 and then started back toward Union Station, Trey Filter was the first to leap into action.
“Once I did that, he broke my tackle, and Paul here, he dove on him,” Filter described.
“He hit him and then he got loose, and I was right there like Trey said, when I took him down, we rolled,” Paul Contreras chimed in.
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That’s when they saw the gun up close.
“As much as we were keeping him down, he was fighting to get up, but we couldn’t let him get back to his feet,” Contreras said.
Two adults have been charged with murder, while two juveniles are facing gun charges from the shooting that killed one and injured nearly two dozen others. They’ve yet to be charged as adults and their names have not been released.
“The tragedy that happened at that parade could have been a whole lot worse had it not been for your actions of you and Trey on that day,” Jackson County Legislator DaRon McGee said during Monday’s meeting.
Filter, who’s from Wichita, and Contreras, who’s from the Omaha area, were honored at the Jackson County Legislature meeting.
“This County owes you a debt of gratitude for your heroic actions. You just stepped up and stepped in to protect people you’ve never met and don’t even know,” McGee said.
“There are guardian angels that show up sometimes when we need them and that is you two one hundred percent,” Legislator Manny Abarca said, who co-sponsored the resolution.
Each of the men said they didn’t have time to think, but meeting for the first time Monday, they were grateful to one another.
“Trey, thank you for doing what you did at that moment,” Contreras said.
“I’m sure glad Paul was here to help,” Filter responded.
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As for being called a hero, the men said they didn’t do anything they wouldn’t have expected anyone else to do in their place.
“That’s very humbling to be called that. There’s people I call when I need help. I think we could all be heroes at the right time we need to be,” Filter said.
“We were there at the wrong time, but I guess it was the right time to do what we needed to do, and we did it,” Contreras said.
Sasha and John Krough and Mike Aciego were also honored Monday. Each came to the aid of Jenipher Cabrera, 20, when she was shot a couple blocks away as she and her family were heading to the rally that day.
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