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Remembering Elizabeth Galvan, a victim of the Kansas city shooting

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

The violence that broke out at Kansas City's Super Bowl celebration left more than 20 people injured, many of them children, according to police. The one fatality was an adult woman. Lisa Lopez-Galvan was 43 years old and a popular DJ. Frank Morris of member station KCUR is here to tell us more about her. Hi, Frank.

FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.

SUMMERS: Frank, I want to start by talking about Lisa Lopez-Galvan's excitement for the Super Bowl and the festivities. She was among the thousands of people who showed up there to celebrate, and I understand she was talking about that on her radio show, right?

MORRIS: Yeah. Yeah. She hosted a popular, chatty North Texas music show called Taste of Tejano here on KKFI. And the show on Tuesday, the day before the Super Bowl victory parade, she said she was excited for it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LISA LOPEZ-GALVAN: I'm glad it's here. I'm glad it's in Kansas City again.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes. Yes, definitely.

LOPEZ-GALVAN: And that just means we did it. And that's just setting the bar for another one next year.

SUMMERS: We know that Galvan was 43 years old. What else can you tell us about her, Frank?

MORRIS: Well, she was married with two children, and she DJed wedding parties all over the area, too. On her Facebook page, there's a clip of her promoting an upcoming event.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LOPEZ-GALVAN: Hey, Kansas City - DJ Lisa G here with a special announcement. Join us this Friday and Saturday as we celebrate Rudy's Tenampa Taqueria - 30th anniversary. You heard that right.

MORRIS: And that's the kind of work that DJs do. You know, they become part of the community. And by all accounts, Lopez-Galvan was a very community-minded person. She was the fourth of - she was the youngest of four kids and came from a super musical family. A profile of her in the local newspaper, the Kansas City Hispanic News, says her father, Beto Lopez, was a locally famous Tejano musician and bandleader, and he got her into music - and stuff like this selection that she played on the radio last Tuesday.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TASTE OF TEJANO")

MOMENTO: (Speaking Spanish).

SUMMERS: It sounds like, Frank, from what you've been able to learn about her since her death, that she was - she sounds like an incredibly vibrant, energetic person.

MORRIS: Yeah. And people loved her. Manny Abarca, a county legislator here, says she was just a pillar of the community.

MANNY ABARCA: Lisa was an incredible soul. I oftentimes sit across from her and watch the beaming smile of hers cower over as we talked on her radio show. She is a local legend because she's a cultural icon to us in Kansas City. She's at all the fiestas. She's regularly volunteering her DJ services at community events. Her legacy will be missed.

SUMMERS: Frank, what is happening with the investigation into her death, the wounding of so many others, many of them children?

MORRIS: Today we learned that there were three - the three people - that two of the three people detained were minors and that the shooting erupted over some kind of disagreement. It wasn't political. It wasn't terrorism. We still don't know what kind of weapons the shooters used. It's an active investigation. Of the juvenile shooting victims, three are still in in-patient care at Children's Mercy Hospital, but six have been discharged, along with three that had other kinds of injuries. It's been a terrible time for the city, and some people wonder if big events like the one yesterday are just a bad idea. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says they're going to keep right on happening.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

QUINTON LUCAS: We have a plan for a St. Patrick's Day parade in Kansas City. We have parades all the time. I don't think they'll end.

MORRIS: Lucas mentioned that the last big event that drew a million people to downtown Kansas City were the Royals' Super Bowl - the Royals' World Series parade in 2015. There were hardly any arrests, and let alone a shooting. The mayor says he's going to contact Lisa Lopez-Galvan's brother, who's a community leader in Kansas City, says he'll be reaching out to him soon.

SUMMERS: That's KCUR's Frank Morris. Frank, thank you.

MORRIS: Yeah. Thanks a lot, Juana. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Frank Morris
Frank Morris has supervised the reporters in KCUR's newsroom since 1999. In addition to his managerial duties, Morris files regularly with National Public Radio. He’s covered everything from tornadoes to tax law for the network, in stories spanning eight states. His work has won dozens of awards, including four national Public Radio News Directors awards (PRNDIs) and several regional Edward R. Murrow awards. In 2012 he was honored to be named "Journalist of the Year" by the Heart of America Press Club.
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