A Kansas City radio DJ died from injuries sustained in a shooting near a parade to celebrate the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory on Wednesday, according to family members and her radio station.
“It is with sincere sadness and an extremely heavy and broken heart that we let our community know that KKFI DJ Lisa Lopez, host of Taste of Tejano lost her life today in the shooting at the KC Chiefs’ rally,” the radio station wrote on Facebook. “This senseless act has taken a beautiful person from her family and this KC Community.”
Lisa Lopez-Galvan, as she was identified by friends and family to the Kansas City Star, was in her mid-40s and the mother of two adult children. Friends said she died while undergoing surgery for a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
“She was the most wonderful, beautiful person,” a friend who works in the Star’s newsroom said. “She was a local DJ. She did everybody’s weddings. We all know her. She was so full of life.”
Lopez-Galvan was a longtime and hardcore Chiefs fan, according to the friend, who said she’d texted her earlier that day asking if she could get a commemorative copy of the newspaper celebrating the Super Bowl victory.
“For Lisa music is life and a source of happiness,” reads a biography on KKFI’s website. “Anyone could ‘get away’ mentally while listening to their favorite genre; music can also be a form of therapy for some.”
Kansas City Police said on Wednesday afternoon that one person had died in the shooting, with 22 more injured. It was not immediately clear if Lopez-Galvan was the one confirmed death or an additional one. Victims’ names had not been released as of Wednesday night.
Manny Abarca, the treasurer of the Kansas City Public School Board and a Jackson County legislator, tweeted that he’d known Lopez-Galvan and her family for more than a decade. “I will not let her death go in [vain],” he wrote. “I will legislate, I will fight and I WILL do everything in my power to change this State and City for the better.” He hashtagged the post #GunReformNow.
Police earlier said that three suspects had been detained for investigation in the shooting. Investigators have not yet announced a motive in the incident.
The Chiefs said in a statement it was saddened by the shooting, which it called a “senseless act of violence.”
President Joe Biden urged Congress to enact fiercer gun control laws in the wake of the shooting. “For this joy to be turned to tragedy today in Kansas City cuts deep in the American soul,” he said. “Today’s events should move us, shock us, shame us into acting. What are we waiting for? What else do we need to see? How many more families need to be torn apart?”
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