Family of woman killed in Chiefs rally shooting sues city, gun sellers and others
The family of Lisa Lopez-Galvin has sued Kansas City and other defendants, including event organizers and gun sellers, over the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl rally, calling her death a “preventable tragedy.”
Lopez-Galvin, along with her husband, Michael Galvan, and their children, Marc and Andriana Lopez-Galvan, traveled to downtown Kansas City to celebrate the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory on February 14, 2024.
They gathered with thousands of other Chiefs fans, as they crowed in the area surrounding Union Station to watch and listen as the Chiefs players celebrated.
A flurry of gunfire erupted at the end of the rally, striking around 24 people, including Lopez-Galvin and her son. Lopez-Galvin, a 43-year-old mother and beloved local party DJ, died in the shooting.
“This was a preventable tragedy,” the family contends in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday evening in Jackson County Circuit Court.
“Gun sellers ignored their responsibilities under the law. Premises owners and event planners turned a blind eye to foreseeable risks of violence,” the lawsuit said. “And young men armed with pistols and rifles turned a mass gathering into a mass shooting. Each defendant played a part in this tragedy. So each must be held accountable.”
Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl rally shooting
Police have said that an argument between two groups of people erupted into gunfire. Besides the nearly two dozen struck by gunfire, nearly half of whom were children under 16 years old, about 60 others were injured in the stampede that followed as they fled the area.
Prosecutors have filed criminal charges against Dominic Miller, Lyndell Mays, Terry Young and three youths following the shooting. The lawsuit names them as defendants, saying they “discharged their firearms with the intent to injure, maim, or kill.”
Also charged were Fedo Manning, Ronnel Williams Jr. and Chaelyn Groves, in connection with guns that were used in the shooting, and those three men are also named as defendants in the civil lawsuit. Although they were not among the shooters, the charges alleged the men were involved in illegal straw purchases and trafficking of firearms, including purchasing two guns found outside Union Station following the shooting.
In addition to Kansas City, the lawsuit names as defendants Union Station Kansas City Inc., The Greater Kansas City Sports Commission, O’Neill Events & Marketing and Flyover Event Co. LLC, which organized the event.
Frontier Justice LS LLC, The Ammo Box LLC and R.K. Shows MO Inc., which the lawsuit states were connected to the sales of guns used in the shooting, were also named.
The lawsuit makes wrongful death and negligence claims, contending that Lopez-Galvin’s death was preventable and resulted in the negligence of multiple parties.
The suit contends the gun sellers were negligent in selling firearms to straw purchasers, failed to properly vet buyers and made false certification on federal forms.
The lawsuit also contends the event organizers failed to provide adequate security and safety measures at the rally, despite knowing the risk of violence at large public events.
Lopez-Galvin’s lawsuit is similar to other lawsuits recently filed by some of those injured in the mass shooting at the Super Bowl celebration.
Earlier this month, three woman, Erika Reyes, Esmeralda Ortiz and Kathleen Martinez, filed a lawsuit against similar defendants. Reyes, her two children and one of Martinez’s children were struck by gunfire.
In early March, James Lemons of Harrisonville, who was shot when he attended the rally with his wife and two children, filed a lawsuit against the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission, alleging negligence and poor event security protocol.
The sports commission filed a response, denying Lemons’ allegations in the lawsuit, according to court documents.
