On the evening of September 16, 2020, 19-year-old Hispanic female Daisy Martinez joined a crowd of hundreds in Kansas City, Missouri, to celebrate Mexican Independence Day. The festivities were centered around Southwest Boulevard, a popular area for such gatherings, where people enjoyed a street festival and car show. Martinez, a recent high school graduate who had dreams of attending community college, was known by her family as a homebody who rarely ventured out to large events.
However, that night she decided to leave her comfort zone to enjoy the music and vibrant atmosphere near West 27th Street.
The celebration turned chaotic shortly before 11:00 p.m. when a disturbance broke out among some of the attendees. Witnesses reported seeing a black Chevrolet Silverado with a large Mexican flag affixed to its rear bumper in a nearby parking lot. Surveillance footage later reviewed by investigators showed two men running toward the truck as the situation escalated. One man unlocked the driver's side while the other entered the passenger side and retrieved a chrome AK-47 rifle. As the crowd, including Martinez, began to scatter in panic, the gunman fired the rifle toward the street. Martinez was struck by the gunfire and fell to the pavement in the parking lot, while the truck sped away from the scene.
Emergency responders arrived to find Martinez and another woman suffering from gunshot wounds on the sidewalk. Both victims were rushed to a local hospital, where Martinez later succumbed to her injuries. The other woman survived the shooting. Police immediately launched an investigation, utilizing the surveillance video to track the distinctive truck. A pursuit ensued, leading to the apprehension of the vehicle's owner and the passenger, identified as 30-year-old Diego Calderon-Guzman. A search of the vehicle revealed the rifle, which ballistics testing later matched to shell casings recovered at the crime scene.
During questioning, the owner of the truck identified Calderon-Guzman as the shooter. Calderon-Guzman, a convicted felon who was prohibited from possessing firearms, admitted to police that he fired the weapon. He claimed that he believed individuals were shooting at him after a fight had broken out and that he fired in self-defense, stating he did not see Martinez running in his line of fire. Prosecutors charged Calderon-Guzman with second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, and two counts of armed criminal action. He was held on a $500,000 bond as the community and Martinez’s family mourned the senseless loss of a young woman who had simply wanted to enjoy a night of celebration.
