Kansas City Man Faces Probation After Gun Charge in Chiefs Super Bowl Rally Shooting

A 22-year-old Kansas City man accused of illegally purchasing a gun recovered following the mass shooting at the Chiefs Super Bowl rally in February has been sentenced to five years of probation. Ronnel Williams Jr. pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make false statements in the acquisition of a firearm in U.S. District Court in Kansas City in July and was sentenced Thursday. Williams was ordered to submit to location monitoring for six months as part of his probation.

As part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Williams admitted he lied to a firearms dealer in Kansas City about purchasing a gun on behalf of another man who was 19 and too young to buy the weapon for himself legally, according to court documents.

Chaelyn Groves, 20, the man Williams bought the gun for, is scheduled to be sentenced in his case Dec. 12. He also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make false statements in the acquisition of a firearm in August.

Williams allegedly purchased a pistol receiver — the part of a gun that can be loaded and fired — in November 2023 at a gun show in Kansas City. In court documents, Steve Moss, Williams’ attorney, wrote that his client bought the receiver for Groves because he was too young at the time and said he had not seen the item since the day he purchased it.

Moss previously told The Star Williams had no knowledge of or connection to any person involved in the rally shooting. Groves told law enforcement the gun had been stolen from him during a shootout near his home, according to court documents. The gun was later recovered by law enforcement near Union Station following the rally shooting. “While the receiver was recovered during the investigation of the Feb. 14, 2024 shooting at Union Station, there is no evidence regarding where it was located, how it was used, or who possessed it,” Moss wrote. “Likewise, there is no evidence the receiver was used illegally, rather than being used as a valid exercise of self-defense or defense of another. Finally, it bears noting the offense was only illegal because the seller was a federally licensed dealer. Had Mr. Williams legitimately bought the receiver for himself and later sold or transferred it to Groves, no offense would have occurred.”

The shooting that erupted at the celebration at Union Station on Feb. 14 killed Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a Johnson County mother of two and beloved disc jockey in Kansas City. Police have said 25 people were injured by gunfire and 69 were hurt trying to flee the shots.