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The mother of Lyndell Mays, one of two men charged with murder in connection to the Kansas City Chiefs’ parade shooting, has started a GoFundMe… for him.
On Tuesday, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced that Mays and Dominic M. Miller of Kansas City had been charged with second-degree felony murder, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.
Their actions during the Super Bowl victory parade allegedly resulted in the death of bystander Lisa Lopez-Galvan.
Teneal Burnside, the mother of 23-year-old Mays, shared a photo on the GoFundMe page of her son in a hospital bed with a tube in his mouth.
“I ask to all please help by donating to help him with his medical bills during this tragic time he is going through,” Burnside wrote in the fundraiser’s description.
“He’s in ICU fighting for a recovery from several surgeries, from going to the Chiefs Super Bowl celebration parade with his older sister to getting shot multiple times a time that was ment [sic] to bring so much joy to many has bought [sic] so much pain and sadness to all that was attending.”
Mays’ sister told DailyMail.com that he is “innocent” and was just “protecting her.”
“For them to make my brother out to be a monster, it really hurts me inside because he was only trying to protect us,” she said.
“He doesn’t deserve to be thrown in it like that. My brother is tall and broad, he’s hefty. They were young kids and little guys, trying to prove a point.
“They had been looking at him, and they approached us, they walked closer they had been staring at him. We can see that they have guns in their pockets.
“We never walked up to them, they walked up to us. One boy I asked how old he was, and he said he was 15. I tried to say we’re here to celebrate, we’re not here to fight or start violence.”
Mays reportedly told police that he was the first person to pull out a gun, escalating the situation which led to over 20 people being shot and Lopez-Galvan being killed.
“Just pulled a gun out and started shooting. I shouldn’t have done that. Just being stupid,” Mays reportedly told police.
Court documents also state, “Mays stated the other individuals started shooting only after [he] shot first.”
Miller, however, according to police, was allegedly the one who shot and killed Lopez-Galvan.
TMZ reports that Mays was released from the hospital Tuesday evening and taken into custody. He had a large bandage on his face when his mugshot was taken.
The family has since taken down the GoFundMe page over fears of retribution after raising just $100.
“What was he supposed to do with those guys coming up to him with semi-automatic weapons?” Mays father said to DailyMail.com, adding, “Our son is not that kind of guy, he’s a kindhearted guy who got caught up in a bad situation. He got scared because of those guns”