Latina DJ & Mother of Two Killed in Kansas City Shooting

Despite promises of political reform in the wake of shooting massacres, gun violence remains one of the most prominent issues facing the U.S. today. Just in this year alone, there have been 50 mass shooting incidents since January 1 – that’s more than the number of days that have passed or a shooting almost every other day, according to Gun Violence Archive. The Latinx community has been directly affected by gun violence in recent years. In 2021, a school safety officer shot and killed an eighteen-year-old Latina mother in Long Beach. The next year, 19 children and two teachers were shot and killed in the Uvalde school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Texas and a majority of the students were Latinx. This week, what might’ve been an otherwise joyous parade and rally three days after the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory turned tragic reportedly because of a dispute. Though law enforcement has yet to reveal full details about the incident, including the identity of the shooter, it has been reported that 21 people were injured, including 11 children, the Associated Press reported. The sole victim has since been identified as Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a mother of two and a radio DJ from the local station KKFI 90.1 FM, where she hosted a show called A Taste of Tejano.

“It is with sincere sadness and an extremely heavy and broken heart that we let our community know that KKFI DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan, host of Taste of Tejano lost her life today in the shooting at the KC Chiefs’ rally. Our hearts and prayers are with her family,” the station said in a Facebook post sharing the news. “This senseless act has taken a beautiful person from her family and this KC Community.”

The Super Bowl LVIII, which aired on Sunday, February 11, marked the fourth Super Bowl win for the Kansas City Chiefs football team and their second consecutive win.Three days later, the city organized a victory parade that ran for two miles from Sixth Street to Union Station. Due to the high number of people present at the event – nearly 1 million people – nearly 800 police officers from the Kansas City Police Department were reportedly present. However, immediately after the parade, several witnesses reported seeing an altercation take place near the station. Later, police confirmed that the shooting happened as a result of a “personal dispute,” according to CNN. Three people, who have yet to be identified, were arrested and are currently in custody under the jurisdiction of local police, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Lopez-Galvan, 43, was a popular presence at the KKFI 90.1 station and worked as a DJ for more than 15 years using the name Lisa G. Alongside fellow DJs Tommy Andrade and Monica Frias McGee, she co-hosted the weekly radio show A Taste of Tejano. She was one of the few Latina DJs in the area according to childhood friends and co-workers Rosa Izurieta and Martha Ramirez, the Associated Press reported. They shared that her father founded the city’s first mariachi group in the ’80s, Mariachi Mexico, and her brother, Beto Lopez, is the CEO of the Guadalupe Centers, which provides community services and runs charter schools for the Latinx community.

She was pronounced dead at the hospital during surgery reportedly as a result of a gunshot wound to her chest. Her son, as well as two daughters of one of her cousins, were being treated for their own injuries from the shooting.

“She’s the type of person who would jump in front of a bullet for anybody — that would that would be Lisa,” Izurieta told the AP. ”We’re still trying to figure out what happened, how it happened. But some of us are thinking she would have been that person that would have jumped in front of anybody — you know, just to save a life.”

A GoFundMe page was set up for the family with a goal of $75K which it has already surpassed thanks, in part, to a $100K donation by singer Taylor Swift who is dating Chief’s tight-end Travis Kelce. Lopez-Galvan is survived by two children and her husband of 22 years.

“The impact of her loss, we’re seeing that lately with so much love and support,” her brother told the local CBS news station. “Even dealing with this tragedy we have no doubt where she has gone. We know she’s resting with others in heaven. I hope the Chiefs know they’ve lost one of the biggest Chiefs fans around.”

The police investigation into the shooting is currently ongoing.