THELEAVEN.ORG | VOL. 45, NO. 27 | FEBRUARY 23, 2024
PARADE TURNS TRAGIC
OSV NEWS PHOTO/KIRBY LEE-USA TODAY SPORTS VIA REUTERS
Fans leave the area after gunshots were fired in Kansas City, Missouri, following the parade celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs winning Super Bowl LVIII. The mass shooting at the end of the parade left one dead and 22 injured, while sending terrified fans running for cover.
Miege grad killed; St. Agnes students among the injured
By Moira Cullings moira.cullings@theleaven.org
R
OELAND PARK — When the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade and rally ended in tragedy, the students and families of St. Agnes School here were left heartbroken at the shooting that left two of their students injured with gunshot wounds. But they were also resilient. The morning after the Feb. 14 shooting that rocked the Kansas City community, families of St. Agnes gathered at the parish church to pray the rosary. “They filled the church,” said principal Jane Sullivan. “We were able to pray together, and then outside, they were able to gather and hug and talk for a while. “That was a beautiful thing.”
It was a stark contrast to the experience a number of the school’s families had endured less than 24 hours before.
‘It was just devastating’ Many Catholic Chiefs fans attended Mass the morning of Ash Wednesday to begin the Lenten season. Some then headed to downtown Kansas City, Missouri, to celebrate the team’s second consecutive Super Bowl win. But the celebratory rally that united fans at the city’s Union Station abruptly turned into a nightmare. According to the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, 22 people were wounded, around half of them children, during a shooting carried out by two juveniles. >> See “YOU” on page 10
LET US PRAY
OSV NEWS SCREENSHOT/FACEBOOK
Lisa Lopez-Galvan, second from right, stands with her family in a photo posted to her Facebook account Sept. 26, 2022. Lopez-Galvan, a parishioner of St. Agnes Parish in Roeland Park, was killed Feb. 14 during a mass shooting following the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade.
We expected this issue to make for some tough reading when we scheduled our center spread (see pages 7-9) in honor of Black History Month. It became heartbreakingly more so after the shooting at the Super Bowl rally. Please join with us, in this penitential season, in praying for our broken world.