The police in Kansas City, Mo., said on Wednesday that they were searching for a man suspected of committing five roadway shootings that left one person dead. The attacks took place just before the city’s first World Cup match on Tuesday night.
The shootings, which also wounded four people, occurred in quick succession on interstates and city streets right as Kansas City was embracing a rare turn on the world stage, hosting soccer teams from Argentina and Algeria at Arrowhead Stadium.
The injured victims included an Uber driver who was taking Argentina fans to the stadium, those fans told La Nación, an Argentine news outlet. Chief Stacey Graves of the Kansas City police said officers took the driver’s passengers, who were not injured, the rest of the way to the stadium. She said there was no other known connection between the shootings and the World Cup.
Officers were still searching for the suspected gunman, identified by the police as Oscar Sanchez-Munoz, 22, on Wednesday night. Chief Graves said there was no known motive for the attacks, and that Mr. Sanchez-Munoz should be considered armed and dangerous.
Chief Graves said that officers tracked Mr. Sanchez-Munoz to a house in nearby Independence, Mo., shortly after the shootings, leading to a standoff. A fire broke out inside the home during the confrontation, Chief Graves said, and when police officers later searched the interior, no one was inside.
“We are hot on the trail of this subject and we want to make sure that he’s taken into custody as soon as possible,” Chief Graves said at a Wednesday evening news conference, emphasizing that people should call 911 if they encountered Mr. Sanchez-Munoz.
Kansas City, the smallest U.S. metro area selected to host World Cup matches, has long struggled with violent crime and has one of the highest homicide rates among large American cities. This was also not the first time that gunfire had tarnished a day meant to celebrate sports. At the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade in 2024, one person was killed and about two dozen were wounded when a dispute led to an exchange of gunfire.
In the weeks leading up to the World Cup, local officials emphasized the work they had done to ensure that fans stayed safe. They also bristled at some national and international news coverage of the city’s gun violence. There have been 61 homicides in Kansas City this year, police data shows, down from 76 at this point in 2025.
“This is still a major American city; we continue to have incidents,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said on Wednesday.
Mr. Lucas said he had confidence in the city’s preparations for the tournament, as well as in the police department’s coordination with other law enforcement agencies.
“In many ways, I see this as a somewhat regular law enforcement incident where we’ve seen K.C.P.D. work closely with other regional partners,” he said. “I’m proud of the quick work they did. I imagine they will find this suspect quickly.”
The sports-loving Kansas City region has welcomed the chance to hold six World Cup matches and to host training sites for four teams. Organizers have planned business events for visiting dignitaries and have plastered World Cup decorations on everything from streetcars to the bathroom signs at the airport.
And just as organizers hoped, fans from Argentina, the tournament’s defending champions, flooded into Kansas City this week to watch Lionel Messi and the rest of their national team face Algeria.
Downtown on Tuesday, South Americans filled tables at the Crown Center shopping mall, waved Argentine flags out the windows of rental cars and lined up on Main Street for a quarter-mile to get into a fan festival. Inside the stadium, those fans danced and cheered as Messi scored all three goals in Argentina’s shutout victory.
It would be hours after the final whistle before news trickled out that there had been five pregame shootings that appeared to be connected. An official with Argentina’s consulate in the Midwest said she was not aware of any Argentine nationals being among the victims.
The police initially reported a fatal shooting and crash that took place on Tuesday evening about five miles from the stadium and about 90 minutes before kickoff. Officials later said that the killing appeared related to four other shootings between 6 and 6:30 p.m. in which people were struck inside moving cars.
The police said the shootings played out geographically from west to east, and included one victim found on Interstate 670 and two on Interstate 70.
Of the four injured victims, officials said three are adults and one is a teenager. One of the adults was said to have life-threatening wounds.
Many details of the attacks remained unclear on Wednesday. The police said Mr. Sanchez-Munoz was also wanted in neighboring Kansas on a warrant in an aggravated assault case.
Jesus Jiménez and Bernard Mokam contributed reporting.
