Mother of Super Bowl parade shooting suspect started GoFundMe to help her son through 'tragic time'

The mother of one of two suspects in the deadly shooting during the Super Bowl parade in Kansas City, Missouri, last week tried to crowdsource funds for son — before apparently coming to her senses and shutting the account down.

Last Wednesday, the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl LVIII victory celebration with the city turned to atrocity when two young men allegedly began firing bullets at one another after a brief argument. According to reports, Dominic Miller, 18, and a group of his associates attending the parade thought Lyndell Mays, 23, "was looking at them" in a way they found offensive.

Mays, apparently a total stranger to Miller and his group, allegedly responded by taunting them and approaching them "in an aggressive manner." As tensions continued to escalate, Mays then drew a weapon and started chasing and firing at an unnamed and unarmed individual, surveillance footage indicated. Miller also allegedly fired a weapon, which police believe was stolen.

After the violent melee was over, 22 people — including nine children — were wounded, and Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a 43-year-old mother of two, was dead. Prosecutors claim that Miller fired the lethal shot.

Mays was among the wounded, having sustained nine gunshots, and has been in the hospital since the incident. To offset the cost of his medical care and to help him manage the "tragic" experience, his mother, Teneal Burnside, initiated a GoFundMe account on his behalf, the New York Post reported.

In pleading her case for donations, Burnside — perhaps beholden to the American legal principle of innocent until proven guilty — painted Mays as the victim of unfortunate circumstances. "He is in the ICU fighting for a recovery from several surgeries from going to the Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration with his older sister," Burnside wrote, according to the Post.

On the account page, Burnside also shared pictures of Mays hooked up to various medical devices in the ICU to demonstrate the severity of his injuries. "Getting shot multiple times at a time that was [meant] to bring so much joy to so many has [brought] pain and sadness to all that was attending," Burnside reportedly lamented.

The account has since been deleted, so verifying when it was started and closed is difficult. However, the Post claimed that it had raised $100 before Mays was criminally charged on Tuesday.

Both Mays and Miller have been charged with one count of second-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon. Bond for both men has been set at $1 million.

When questioned about the shooting, Mays reportedly admitted that he drew his weapon first and that he started shooting after members of Miller's group threatened to "get" him, a phrase that he interpreted to mean they wanted to "kill" him. Additionally, he reportedly acknowledged that others began firing their guns after he "shot first."

Mays also supposedly framed the shooting as a "stupid" mistake. "Stupid, man," Mays said, according to court documents. "Just pulled a gun out and started shooting.

"I shouldn’t have done that. Just being stupid."

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