Woman killed by shots fired into crowd of ‘dozens if not hundreds’ in Kansas City
Update: Video posted to social media shows a crowd gathered on the street and car stunts being performed before the shooting. That story is posted here.
One woman was killed and another was injured late Wednesday when gunfire erupted on Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City where a group of “dozens if not hundreds” of people had gathered, according to police.
Police responded shortly before 11 p.m. to West 26th Street and Southwest Boulevard on reports of shots being fired, said Sgt. Jacob Becchina, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department.
Arriving officers found numerous cars leaving the area and were directed to two shooting victims who were lying on the sidewalk in the 2600 block of Southwest Boulevard, he said.
Emergency medical crews rushed the victims to the hospital, where one of them died shortly thereafter. The other victim had injuries that were not life-threatening.
The woman who died was later identified as 20-year-old Daisy S. Martinez.
Preliminary investigation indicates that there was a large gathering of vehicles and people in the street when multiple shots were fired from an unknown vehicle, Becchina said. Gunfire struck both victims.
Detectives and crime scene investigators gathered evidence over a large area overnight, closing Southwest Boulevard for several hours.
“We know there were dozens if not hundreds of people in this area when the shooting happened,” Becchina said.
Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas said on Twitter that just prior to the shooting he had received a text message from a resident in the area asking if Southwest Boulevard had been closed.
“Authorities were made aware right before shooting but appears to be a large street gathering that shut down the area proceeding the incident,” Lucas said.
Becchina later said the department received at least one 911 call reporting a large gathering blocking the street prior to the shooting, but he didn’t immediately give an exact number of calls.
Meanwhile, Lucas said he received more calls and messages from Westside neighbors concerning the street race show last night and others in recent weeks which have led to violence, including one in Swope Park.
Earlier this month, six people were injured when multiple shots were fired into a group of people gathered at Swope Park for what some media reported was a “sideshow,” an informal demonstration of car stunts often held in parking lots and at intersections.
The killing is Kansas City’s 146th homicide of the year, according to data kept by The Star, which includes police shootings. That compares to 113 homicides record by this time in 2019.
Across the entire Kansas City metro area, there have been 208 homicides.
Anyone with information about the killing is asked call homicide detectives at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).
Gun violence will be the subject of a new, statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.
To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 7:35 AM with the headline "Woman killed by shots fired into crowd of ‘dozens if not hundreds’ in Kansas City."
