KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The beaded Chiefs bracelet that Lisa Lopez-Galvan wore on the afternoon she was killed dangled from her 19-year-old daughter’s right wrist.

In the family’s Shawnee garage, transformed long ago into a party room with a giant TV, fairy lights, neon signs and Chiefs and Royals decorations everywhere, Adriana Galvan stood behind a folding table set with her late mother’s DJ mixing board and laptop.

“Her spirit’s still here with me,” Adriana said as she rehearsed earlier this week.

She tucked her long black hair, like her mother’s, behind her ears and queued up the Grupo Frontera song “No Se Va” (“It Won’t Go Away.”) Tejano music filled the room where, propped against the front of her table, stood a conspicuous object:

A 4-foot sheet metal cross, gifted by a stranger in the days after Lopez-Galvan, at 43, was killed at Union Station in a spray of bullets at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally on Valentine’s Day. Lopez-Galvan’s son, Marc, 22, was among the 25 people who were struck, as were two nieces, ages 8 and 10. Lopez-Galvan was the only one killed. Three adults and three juveniles have been charged thus far.

Painted in Mexico’s colors of green, white and red, the cross reads, “RIP LISA,” the date of her birth, 10-26-1980, and death, 02-14-2024.

“She’s on my mind every day,” Adriana said. “Every single day.”

Trying her best for her mom

It is precisely with her mother in mind, plus a desire to not let down the community that came to love and count on “DJ Lisa G,” that Adriana on Saturday will, for the first time, take up her mother’s passion and carry on where she left off.

For more than 15 years, Lopez-Galvan had all but provided the soundtrack for Kansas City’s Hispanic community. She was a coveted disc jockey at hundreds of weddings and anniversaries, quinceañeras and fundraisers. On Tuesday nights, she co-hosted a Tejano music program on KKFI, the community radio station.

...continued

©2024 The Kansas City Star. Visit at kansascity.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.