The death of Anthony Martinez, a 30-year-old Hispanic male, occurred during a violent incident on the night of June 28, 2016, in Kansas City, Missouri. Around 10:19 p.m., officers from the Kansas City Police Department responded to reports of gunfire near the intersection of Independence Avenue and Van Brunt Boulevard. Upon arrival, authorities discovered a scene indicative of a 'rolling gun battle,' describing a chaotic exchange of fire between the occupants of two moving vehicles near Fire
Station 23.
Inside one of the vehicles involved, police located Martinez, who had suffered fatal gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene, marking the city's 50th homicide of that year. A female passenger in her 20s was also found in the vehicle with gunshot injuries; she was transported to a local hospital where she was listed in stable condition and survived the attack.
Investigators determined that the occupants of the two vehicles had been shooting at one another while driving through the Northeast neighborhood. Despite the public nature of the crime and the hope that surveillance cameras from nearby businesses might provide leads, police initially struggled to identify the other vehicle involved. Reports from the time indicated that there was no detailed description of the suspect vehicle immediately available, and the case was listed as unsolved with no arrests reported in the years following the incident. Authorities continued to urge anyone with information to contact the TIPS Hotline, but the individuals responsible for the shooting remained at large.
