Aunt of 19-year-old woman killed on Southwest Boulevard says KC is ‘numb’ to violence
Ten of Daisy Martinez’s cousins stood Sunday outside an Advanced Auto Parts along East Truman Road in Kansas City, holding signs for a car wash that read “Long live Daisy.”
Half a dozen vehicles lined up as groups of men, including Martinez’s uncles, cousins, father and grandfather, pushed large sponges across hoods and sprayed windows with hoses.
“Thank you guys,” Martinez’s aunt, Franchesca Salas, called to a woman who waved from inside her freshly-cleaned car.
Relatives held the car wash to raise money to give 19-year-old Martinez — who was fatally shot Wednesday night during a Mexican Independence Day celebration on Southwest Boulevard — a “proper, beautiful” funeral, Salas said.
Children played nearby as several women, the wives of the group, Salas called them, helped guide cars and grilled food for the volunteers. A sign that was leaned against a tree read, “A father’s message: Put the guns down! Worst pain in my life!”
Martinez’s family is hoping to raise about $17,000 for her funeral. They raised $3,500 from a car wash Saturday, and an online fundraiser has brought in $10,000 as of Sunday morning, Salas said.
As she stood outside the store near Cypress Avenue, Salas recalled her niece’s love for singing. In one video on social media, Martinez can be heard singing “Dancing in the Sky,” which relatives plan to play at her funeral Thursday.
“She was fierce and full of life,” said Salas, 38, of Kansas City.
In July, Martinez shared a news story about a fatal shooting outside a gas station in the 2700 block of Van Brunt Boulevard. Police later identified the victim as 20-year-old Diamon Eichelburger, who was pregnant and pushing a baby in a stroller when she was killed.
“People always dying around my hood,” Martinez wrote on Facebook, “not knowing who’s next, hopefully god always protects me and my loved ones.”
Over the weekend, Jackson County prosecutors said they charged Diego Calderon-Guzman, 30, of Kansas City, with second-degree murder in the shooting that left Martinez dead and another woman wounded.
Calderon-Guzman allegedly told detectives he fired the shots when a fight broke out during the celebration before 11 p.m. near West 27th Street and Southwest Boulevard.
Videos from before the shooting showed people gathered to watch car stunts performed in the street. Some spun in circles, causing smoke to rise from their tires. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people were in the crowd, according to police.
There was also video of the shooting and footage of Martinez on the ground as people ran over her, Salas said.
A young woman from Olathe, who brought her 2-year-old child, was caught in the crossfire with Martinez. After Martinez was shot, the woman stayed with her until she died. Martinez’s family was grateful for her, Salas said.
Martinez left behind a few siblings. She recently saved up her money and bought a car. A 2019 graduate of East High School, Martinez had plans to soon attend a community college, her aunt said.
“She didn’t even get to reach that,” Salas said. “She had her whole life ahead of her.”
Salas has appreciated the donations since Martinez’s death. But she said there have been too many killings throughout the region.
With 147 homicides, Kansas City is on pace to suffer its deadliest year ever, according to data kept by The Star.
“They’re just dropping and nobody is doing anything about it,” Salas said.
Violence is not unfamiliar to Salas.
A friend of hers lost a 16-year-old son to homicide. Last fall, she and her daughters were steps from where Erin Langhofer, 25, was fatally shot during First Friday activities in the Crossroads Arts District; she can recall saying amid the gunfire: “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.”
On Friday, Salas told her daughters they couldn’t go to the haunted houses in the West Bottoms. Later that night, two people would tell police they were shot outside the Edge of Hell haunted house there.
“I mean, who does that?” she asked. “Everybody is kind of just numb to it now. That’s the problem.”
Salas said people can’t blame the police response or the car club that hosted the Wednesday event for the shooting that took her niece’s life. The city has to do something different to reach people who might carry out shootings, she said.
“Nobody is winning here,” Salas said, noting that her relatives also feel bad for the family of Calderon-Guzman, who is accused in Martinez’s killing. “They lost somebody too. All that, for what?”
This story was originally published September 20, 2020 at 7:24 PM.
