Hallmark Christmas movie’s star ‘ran out of harm’s way’ after shooting at Chiefs rally

Earlier this year, Tyler Hynes told his fans he was spending Valentine’s Day in Kansas City to help the Chiefs celebrate their second consecutive Super Bowl victory.

“Will you be mine? @chiefs see you at the parade Happy Valentine’s Day,” the Hallmark Channel star wrote on his Instagram the day before the rally.

He followed that up with this: “Heck of a way to spend Valentine’s Day.”

Fans who were happy to hear he would be in Kansas City were later horrified by what happened at the rally and scared for Hynes’ safety.

A mass shooting at Union Station at the end of the celebration left 43-year-old Chiefs fan Lisa Lopez-Galvan dead and 22 others injured by the gunfire, half of them younger than 16, with more injured in the crowd’s stampede to safety.

Hynes returned to Union Station that night and made a haunting video of the aftermath of the violence that he shared with fans in an emotional tribute to Kansas City.

Hynes had been there enjoying the perk of starring in a faux Hallmark Christmas movie trailer the Chiefs released in January before the AFC Wild Card game.

Hynes portrayed a Chiefs superfan with Hallmark Channel co-star Janel Parrish (“Never Been Chris’d”) as his football-hating love interest.

The project turned the Canadian-born Hynes, who grew up in downtown Toronto, into an honorary member of Chiefs Kingdom, a role he has been relishing since.

He sat at Patrick Mahomes’ locker at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, holding up a Chiefs jersey emblazoned with “Hynes.” He posted the picture proudly on his Instagram where more than 14,000 users, including many Chiefs fans, blessed it with likes.

“You look awesome in red,” one commented.

Another added him to the “3 T” club: Tyler, Travis and Taylor.

Hynes is back in Kansas City this month — his fourth trip here since last summer — thanks again to the Chiefs.

This time he’s making a real Hallmark Christmas movie about the Chiefs. “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” stars Hynes and another Hallmark Channel favorite, former “The Young and the Restless” actress Hunter King. Emmy winner Ed Begley Jr. (“Better Call Saul,” “Young Sheldon”) also stars.

Filming is underway in Independence and at Arrowhead.

“Remember that thing I did with the Kansas City Chiefs that looked like a movie but wasn’t a movie...well…it’s a movie now. ;),” Hynes wrote on Instagram last month.

“Congrats everyone at @hallmarkchannel & @chiefs @nfl for pulling off what’s never been done,” he said later in the post.

“And to everyone who’s about to start the journey of making this film, giddyup we’re going to Kansas City, the home of two organizations connected by a spirit rarely seen.”

‘We ran out of harm’s way’

When news broke about the shooting at the Chiefs rally, fans of Hynes and Parrish who knew they were there combed social media looking for details.

Were they safe?

Later that afternoon Parrish tweeted: “I love you, Kansas City. I’m here with you. I’m crying for you.”

Two days later she posted an Instagram Story offering a few details of what had happened, according to the New York-based sports news website Heavy.

She shared a photo of herself at the rally with Hynes and Chiefs employee Atipa Mabonga, all wearing Chiefs gear. “Love you both,” she wrote to them.

“These two wonderful humans were with me and helped keep me strong as we ran out of harm’s way,” Parrish wrote.

She added: “Our beloved Hallmark team was there as well, and I’m so glad they’re all safe.”

She wrote that she didn’t “quite have the words yet. All I can really say is I love you Kansas City and I grieve for the beautiful life lost and those who were injured. I love all of you.

“I’m so grateful we made it out, but I’m sad this senseless act of violence occurred. I’m sending so much love to everyone who was affected by this tragedy.

“I’m sorry this happened ... we have to do better.”

Meeting Hallmark employees

Hynes’ first taste of Kansas City hospitality came last summer, when he and about 20 popular Hallmark Channel stars visited the company’s headquarters. They spent a day with employees and Don Hall Jr., executive chairman of the board of Hallmark Cards, who gave them a tour.

People magazine reported that more than 300 cheering Hallmark employees greeted the actors with signs and pom-poms.

Hynes came, along with Lacey Chabert, Alicia Witt, Autumn Reeser, Erin Cahill, Nikki DeLoach, Ashley Williams and his co-stars in the channel’s popular “Three Wise Men and a Baby” — Andrew Walker and Paul Campbell — for which they recently filmed a sequel.

The three wise men performed for employees their viral dance from the movie.

“From Don Hall Jr to Wonya Lucas to every staff member, artist, human being I met on this outing, there was a quiet focus and humility that seems to permeate from the top down and then ripple back from the bottom up,” Hynes wrote on Instagram last June.

He went on to thank “every person who makes up the fabric of this thing we call hallmark that seems to be a refuge for so many as well as a celebration of life and togetherness very much needed these days.”

‘Are you safe?’

On Super Bowl Sunday, Hynes had gotten in the spirit by dressing his adorable and ever-present sidekick, Rusty James, in a Chiefs jersey. The fluffy black Pomeranian, named after the lead character in the Francis Ford Coppola movie, “Rumble Fish,” has his own Instagram fan page.

Then, leading up to the parade, fans were hyped that Hynes planned to help the Chiefs celebrate, leaving these and other messages on his Instagram:

“Shut the front door! My favorite Hallmark leading man is in KC for the parade?!”

“Love this! Have fun partying with the #chiefskingdom.”

“I love that you’re a Chiefs fan!!”

“Can you scoop me up on your float? I’ll be wearing the shirt with your face on it.”

After the shooting, frantic fans who didn’t hear anything from him poured concern and anxiety onto his Instagram.

“Are you OK Tyler?”

“Hope you’re okay and out of harm’s way, @tyler_hynes!”

“Are you safe? Hope you were gone by the time everything happened. Awful way to end a happy celebration.”

According to Heavy, Hynes posted a white heart emoji against a black background on his Instagram stories the night of the shooting but otherwise stayed silent for hours.

An Instagram fan account called Hynies Headquarters was the first to publicly report that he was safe, apparently after receiving word from friend and co-star Andrew Walker.

On Feb. 18, four days after the rally, Hynes posted a poignant video and message on Instagram.

“There aren’t words to adequately speak on the events and experience of the Super Bowl parade,” he wrote. “The words I do have at the moment are for the incredible people of Kansas City.

“I wish we could (have) closed out what was a perfect day, but it doesn’t change what we shared prior to parting ways.

“My thoughts are with everyone near or far affected by this unfortunate happening. A world where this doesn’t exist would be a lovely one.

“More important than my particular experience is the recognition of the beauty of this city and the people therein.

“Every single person I was with and met that day are as lovely as they come. And every single person who I was with during the moments we’re seeing on the news, I couldn’t be more proud of.”

A few days ago, Hynes showed his Instagram followers that he and Rusty James were on a flight headed to Kansas City.

And fans had a message for him: Welcome back.