Brother of Kansas City shooting victim Lisa Lopez-Gavlan says slain sister 'never made it to the hos

The mom-of-two shot to death Wednesday at the Kansas City Chief’s Super Bowl parade never made it to the hospital after a dreadful mass shooting sent crowds of spectators scurrying for cover.

Lisa Lopez-Gavlan, 43, died on the street near the west side of Union Station after gunfire erupted at about 2 p.m., her brother, Beto Lopez, told The Kansas City Star.

Initial reports claimed Lopez-Gavlan — a beloved DJ and radio host — died on the operating table after the shooting. But her brother said that’s not the case.

“She never made it to the hospital,” Lopez, a leader in the Hispanic community who’s also the president and chief executive officer of the Guadalupe Centers in Kansas City, told the outlet.

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He went on to describe his late sister as the liveliest of her four siblings — calling her “the life of the party” no matter where she went.

“Bubbly person,” Lopez said. “She was highly loved in the community, had a big heart. She was a big sports fan, Kansas City fan.”

Lopez told the outlet that his sister was with her son and daughter, Adriana, as well as some young cousins near the shooting scene.

“They were enjoying the day and getting ready to go home. Everybody was,” Lopez said.

“They were all kind of together,” he continued. “They were caught in whatever crossfire was going on. … She was trying to go, like everyone else, to celebrate.”

But the mass shooting ruined the jubilation, leaving 22 others with gunshot wounds on a day that was supposed to be about celebrating the Chiefs’ recent Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves emphasized Thursday that the shooting had nothing to do with homegrown terrorism or violent extremism — it was a street beef that exploded into violence and brought dozens down with it.

Cops have three suspects in custody, two of whom are juveniles. They haven’t been charged yet, Graves said.

“We have subjects that are detained,” Graves said. “We are working to determine the involvement of others, and it should be noted we have recovered several firearms … This incident is still a very active investigation.”

She also had a message for Lopez-Gavlan’s family and friends: “We are with you, and we are working tirelessly to investigate her murder.”

But she wasn’t the only casualty in her ill-fated family, her brother said.

Her son, Marc, who is in his 20s, was treated at University Health for a gunshot wound to one of his legs, The Star said.

And the bullets also struck her cousin’s two young daughters, fourth-grader Madison and third-grader Melia, he said.

Although he didn’t speak about their conditions, he did say their wounds weren’t life-threatening.

Many of the injured were children, Kansas City cops reported Thursday. Of the 22 victims, more than half were under the age of 16.

All are expected to recover, Children’s Mercy Hospital told The Star.

The baby of the family, Lopez-Gavlan graduated from Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park, a community just outside the Kansas City limits.

A DJ by trade, the Shawnee, Kansas resident co-hosted a Hispanic music program on a local radio station, according to The Star.

Lopez said he’s concerned about his niece and nephew — both of whom watched their mother get shot.

“We’re just going to have to really help him mentally to get through this,” Lopez said of his nephew. “Besides the shock, the initial shock, he was there, with his mother, when all this happened.”

But the bereaved brother said he’s going to make sure his sister isn’t 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,” he said.

“It’s murder,” he continued. “Even for me to say that … ‘My sister got killed.’ Which is absurd even to say.”

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