(OSV News) -- Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a Catholic mother of two and beloved disc jockey for the KKFI radio station in Kansas City, Missouri, was killed Feb. 14 amid a mass shooting following the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory parade.
“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 announced on Facebook that Wednesday evening. “This senseless act has taken a beautiful person from her family and this KC Community.”
Lopez-Galvan was an active parishioner at Sacred Heart-Guadalupe Parish in Kansas City, Missouri, where she was fondly remembered by her fellow parishioners.
Ramona Arroyo, director of religious education at the parish, told OSV News that Lopez-Galvan’s whole family is “devoted to the church.” Her brother, Beto Lopez Jr., is the chief executive officer of Guadalupe Centers, one of the nation’s first social service agencies for the Latino community.
Arroyo said the loss was “devastating” to the community. “She was a beautiful person,” Arroyo said. She expressed her sympathy for Lopez-Galvan’s husband, Michael, saying, “It’s a horrible thing that happened to a good family.”
Monica Palacio, another parishioner who knew Lopez-Galvan, said the shooting was a “tragedy for our whole community because everybody knows the family” and they “grew up within blocks of each other.”
She also noted Lopez-Galvan’s role as host of Tejano Tuesdays at KKFI and as a well-known DJ presence at local weddings and quinceañeras.
”She was an amazing person,” Palacio said. “She was full of joy all the time, no matter where she was.” Palacio remembered Lopez-Galvan as the “life of the party” who “came with red lipstick and a big smile.”
The Kansas City Star reported that Lopez-Galvan, who was in her mid-40s with two adult children, died in the hospital during surgery after a gunshot wound to her abdomen.
Arroyo and Palacio said Lopez-Galvan, a known Chiefs fan, was at the parade with her family, including her son and nieces and nephews, and they had heard that other family members had been injured as well.
Father Luis Suárez, parochial administrator of Sacred Heart-Guadalupe Parish, remembered Lopez-Galvan in his homily at the Ash Wednesday evening Mass and encouraged the community to unite in prayer amid the tragedy.
Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, told KMBC News that they're treating 12 patients, 11 children and nine with gunshot wounds.
Following the tragedy, two local bishops offered prayers for victims.
“Let's offer our prayers for the victims of today's shooting after the parade and rally and their loved ones,” Bishop James V. Johnston of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, wrote in a message shared on Facebook. “On this first day of Lent, we turn to God for mercy and healing for our broken world.”
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, called for unity in prayer following the shooting in a statement Wednesday evening.
“As we continue to process the details of the tragic shooting that concluded what had been a unifying celebration for our city, let us now remain united in prayer for healing, both physically and mentally, for the victims, their families, and all who are understandably shaken by the heartbreaking event near Union Station,” he wrote. “We express gratitude for the swift actions of first responders and emergency personnel. May God guide the minds and hands of the medical professionals providing aid to the wounded. We humbly seek the Lord’s grace for the healing of all those who were impacted by this tragic event and we pray for peace and unity to envelop the Kansas City community during this difficult time.”
The Kansas City Fire Department said there are three victims in critical condition and five in serious condition following the incident. Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said two suspects have been taken into custody.
“We are holding in prayer all those impacted by the shooting this afternoon near Union Station,” the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph wrote in a Facebook message. “We also pray in gratitude for the first responders caring for the victims and returning safety to the area.”
The Chiefs players and their families are reportedly safe, and many took to social media Wednesday afternoon to express their prayers for the victims and their families as well as gratitude for the first responders.
Chiefs quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes posted on X that he was “praying for Kansas City.”
Drue Tranquill, a linebacker for the Chiefs, also posted asking, “please join me in prayer for all the victims in this heinous act. Pray that the doctors & first responders would have steady hands & that all would experience full healing.”
