Trey Filter had a restless night of sleep Wednesday.

The 40-year-old Maize man was still trying to process his role in helping catch one of the suspects in the mass shooting that left 22 wounded and one woman dead at the end of the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade and rally Wednesday.

It happened so fast.

“I haven’t moved that quickly in years,” said Filter, who owns a couple of businesses that work with concrete. “No idea what came over me.”

He added: “I’m just a Kansas boy and I did my part and we left.”

When he hit the male suspect as he tried to weave through the crowd, a gun hit the ground. Filter’s wife, Casey Filter, thought it was a toy until she picked it up.

“It was a real assault rifle,” she said. “It was a good 1.5-feet long, for sure.”

The incident was caught on video. Many people have called their actions heroic.

“This guy is a hero,” one person wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to a post by NewsNation anchor Christopher Cuomo. “All my respect to him and his wife for springing into action during this chaotic scene. He most likely saved additional lives.”

Another man helped tackle and secure the suspect as well until police arrived.

Kansas City, Missouri, police chief Stacey Graves commended all those who jumped in to help.

“They helped one another and even physically stopped a person who was believed to be involved in the incident,” she said during a news briefing Thursday morning. “I want to thank the people who acted bravely yesterday alongside law enforcement … your selfless act did not go unnoticed.”

Celebrating the Chiefs

The Filters, who have been together 20 years after attending Topeka High School together, are lifelong Chiefs fans. They moved to the Wichita area about 20 years ago to be close to family. They try to take their two sons, 15-year-old Gage and 12-year-old Levi, to a couple games each year.

They all went to the Chiefs Super Bowl celebration last year.

The family took off early to try and get a good spot for the rally. They decided to avoid the parade since it was too difficult to do both last year.

“It was a beautiful day,” Casey Filter said. “It was perfect. It was a beautiful day and nothing was wrong until there was something wrong.”

They sat up on a hill near Union Station and watched their favorite players speak during the rally before making the long trek back to their vehicle. That’s when they heard a bunch of pops in a row.

It was so close together, they assumed it was fireworks.

Some people were running, others walking like them. They started to see police running around and soon Trey Filter heard people say “get him.”

“I looked to my left and just got him,” he said, not really recalling exactly what he did. “The moment I hit him, the gun went flying out of his hands.”

The suspect was running at his family, he said.

Video shows Filter hit the suspect and they both fell to the ground. Another man pushed the suspect back down as he tried to get up. Filter jumped back on top of the suspect along with the other man.

“Everybody’s screaming, ‘He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun,” Filter said, who didn’t know the gun had been dropped. “I’m trying to reach under his stomach because I think his hands are under there … I’m looking for the gun and I can’t feel the gun, so I just start hitting him in the ribs because, for all I know, he is going to just roll over and shoot somebody.”

Casey Filter saw the gun and quickly moved it away from the commotion.

A man grabbed Gage Filter, who was videoing the incident, and pulled him away.

“I thank God for that guy that grabbed him,” Trey Filter said.

Police came and took the suspect and the gun. The Filters left for home.

Filter said he didn’t realize what all had happened until his sons read on their phones about the extent of the mass shooting. Police said Thursday that half of the 23 people shot were under the age of 16; the two suspects are also minors. Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a Johnson County mother of two, died at the scene.

Police said the shooting happened after a dispute between several people.

Filter said he doesn’t carry a gun and has no problem with people being able to. Both he and his wife said they would go back next year if the Chiefs win.

“100 percent” Casey Filter said. “I am a Chiefs fan through and through and no one person making horrible life choices is going to change my life.”

Trey Filter said he just did what he thinks anyone would do.

“I have imposter syndrome,” he said. “I don’t really feel like i did anything worth a damn. There’s a thousand other men that would have done the same thing.”

Filter said he planned to contact the other man who jumped in, who other media identified as Paul Contreras, later Thursday night.