‘Heartbreaking’: Woman killed pushing baby stroller as Parson visits KC to talk crime
Update: Police identified the woman as 20-year-old Diamon Eichelburger on Tuesday. Police also corrected the age of the baby, saying the child was a one year old.
Hours before Missouri Gov. Mike Parson met with law enforcement officials in Kansas City to discuss violent crime, a woman pushing a baby in a stroller was fatally shot in the 2700 block of Van Brunt Boulevard.
The killing marked the 110th homicide this year as Kansas City continues on pace to suffer its deadliest year ever.
Officers rushed to the latest crime scene just before 11:30 a.m. outside a 7-Eleven gas station, where they found the woman unresponsive on the ground in the parking lot, according to the Kansas City Police Department.
Witnesses told detectives the woman was killed while pushing a 1-year-old baby in a stroller. The child was not injured in the shooting but was taken to a hospital to be checked out, said Officer Doaa El-Ashkar, a police spokeswoman.
The woman was killed by gunfire that came from an unknown vehicle, police said. Detectives were searching the area for any surveillance cameras and witnesses to determine what led up to the shooting.
A woman who arrived at the crime scene screamed, her cry piercing through music that played out of the gas station’s speakers, as a victim advocate and officers tried to comfort her. Other mourners soon followed.
As of Monday, there had been 31 more killing this year than by this time in 2019, according to data maintained by The Star, which includes law enforcement shootings. Last year ended with 151 slayings.
Police Chief Rick Smith commented on the killing as he joined Parson and other officials during a news conference after their meeting on the upcoming special legislative session, which will narrowly focus on violence plaguing Missouri.
“We had another homicide as we waited to have this meeting today,” Smith said. “We know we have to take some action, and there is a sense of urgency right now.”
Parson called it frustrating to hear a mother and child couldn’t be protected from criminals.
“It’s heartbreaking,” he told reporters. “It’s heartbreaking.”
Parson announced earlier this month that the special session will begin July 27. It will focus on six provisions, including the expansion of the kinds of statements admissible in court and the creation of a witness protection fund.
Sandra Karsten, director of the state Department of Public Safety, called protecting witnesses especially important.
“We need people to come forward as witnesses,” she said.
Missouri currently lacks a comprehensive witness protection program.
One audit found Kansas City police detectives have had to use their own money to relocate witnesses during murder investigations. Members of the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office have said police officials declined to join them in applying for a grant for $2 million for victim witness assistance and relocation.
Additional provisions of the special session would increase the penalty for knowingly selling a firearm to a minor without parental consent, modify the child endangerment offense for encouraging a minor to engage in a weapons offense and require a court to determine if a juvenile should be tried as an adult for unlawful use of a weapon.
Asked Monday why more gun measures, such as concealed carry, were not going to be part of the special session, Parson said those issues can be taken up during the general session. He said there would be too little time to discuss issues other than homicides and violent crime, saying he also thought there needed to be public input about those issues.
“If you start talking about the Second Amendment, if you start talking about police policy — those are major things, major changes you’re making,” said Parson, who spent 12 years as sheriff of Polk County. “I don’t think you’re going to see that happen in special sessions.”
In a post on Twitter after the meeting, Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forté said Parson also talked during the meeting about early education and mental health, among other things.
As he spoke to reporters, Parson noted the killing of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was fatally shot while he slept in June.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re 4 years old or 90 years old, people shouldn’t have to walk out their doors worrying about whether they’re going to be murdered today or whether they’re not,” Parson said. “This cannot wait any longer.”
Police asked anyone with information about the woman’s killing Monday to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 5:30 PM.
