‘My sister got killed’: Brother details shooting death at Kansas City Chiefs rally
To the best of Beto Lopez’s knowledge, his younger sister, Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a 44-year-old Johnson County mother, died on the grounds of Union Station soon after she was hit by gunfire at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration.
“She never made it to the hospital,” said Lopez, who as president and chief executive officer of the Guadalupe Centers in Kansas City is a leader in the Hispanic community.
The Kansas City Fire Department confirmed as much at a Thursday morning press conference, saying that among 23 victims of gunshots, one died at the scene. Police said Thursday that two juveniles and an adult were detained.
Friends of Lopez-Galvan, the mother of two adult children as well as a beloved disc jockey and radio host, had previously thought she had died at a hospital during surgery. That was not the case.
Instead, said Lopez, it was her son, Marc Lopez-Galvan, in his young 20s, who was treated at University Health for a gunshot wound to one of his legs and has already been released. Two other relatives, the grade school daughters of a cousin, Erika Reyes, were also injured by gunshots, Lopez said. He did not reveal the girls’ conditions, leaving that to their parents, who could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
He did say their wounds are “non-life threatening.” Children’s Mercy hospital said Thursday it had treated nine children for gunshot wounds from the incident, and all were expected to recover.
Lopez said that, from what he knows, his sister was with her son and daughter, Adriana, along with their young cousins on the west side of Union Station, when shots rang out and they were struck. It was unclear if Mike Galvan, Lopez-Galvan’s husband, was with them.
“They were enjoying the day and getting ready to go home. Everybody was,” Lopez said. “They were all kind of together. They were caught in whatever crossfire was going on. … She was trying to go, like everyone else, to celebrate.”
Although her son has been released from the hospital, “we’re just going to have to really help him mentally to get through this. Besides the shock, the initial shock, he was there, with his mother, when all this happened.”
He is also concerned for her daughter, Adriana, whom he said is 19.
“They both witnessed their mother get shot.”
Lopez-Galvan, who graduated Bishop Miege High School, was a disc jockey and a co-host of a Hispanic music program, “Taste of Tejano,” on KKFI, the community radio station. Lopez said his sister was the youngest of four siblings, including himself, his younger brother, Salvador, and a sister, Carmen.
“Of the four of us siblings, she was the life of the party,” Lopez said. “Bubbly person, never met a stranger. She was highly loved in the community, had a big heart. She was a big sports fan, Kansas City fan.”
No funeral plans have yet been made, Lopez said.
“When you have a … It’s a murder,” Lopez said. “Even for me to say that, ‘My sister got killed,’ which is absurd even to say that. When there’s an investigation that’s still active, not until the investigation is over will they give us any details on how we can get her body back to do a respectful burial.”
Lopez said their parents still live on Kansas City’s West Side. Lopez-Galvan lived in Shawnee. The news of her death prompted a flood of social media messages of grief and love.
“Praying for you guys,” reads one
“Truly devastated,” said another.
“I lost not only a friend, a comadre, familia, but our community lost a leader. A mom, a wife, a sister, aunt, a cousin, a niece. Lisa Lopez-Galvan was everything you wanted in a friend.”
Her brother said, “We’re going to try to make sure she is not forgotten. If we have to use this as an example to finally get the right attention in Congress, to really address gun violence, that is something that will be part of my mission for the rest of my life.”
