KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ The woman felt a wave of shock and uncertainty when the gun was pointed at her face.
It was July 19 in a parking garage at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. Only when the suspect yelled at her to get out of her 2010 Nissan Altima, threatening that she would otherwise be shot, did the woman realize she was being carjacked.
"I can't explain all the emotions going through my head, but my body was reacting," the victim wrote in a statement. "Knees got weak, hands and knees shaking, heart is racing, stomach nauseated."
The woman's story was recounted Monday during a news conference outside the Kansas City Police Department. The news briefing _ which came during a year that has been plague by violence and is on pace to be the city's deadliest ever _ was held by the department to better illustrate the toll violent crime has on victims.
After the carjacking, the woman hid behind other vehicles in case the suspect changed her mind about letting her live. She's still dealing with the fallout, but is most grateful her 6-year-old daughter _ who is with her constantly _ was not in the car.
One suspect, Maricela Delores Lozano, 20, of Kansas City, Kansas, was charged in federal court with carjacking and using a firearm during a crime of violence in the incident. The charges were brought after an investigation by Kansas City police, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the FBI as part of Operation LeGend, a federal crime-fighting initiative.
"Without Operation LeGend in effect, I'm not sure things would've been taken care of as fast," the woman said in her statement, which was read by Officer Doaa El-Ashkar, a police spokeswoman.
The operation, which was created to combat violence in Kansas City and has been expanded to other U.S. cities, is named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was fatally shot in June as he slept in a Kansas City apartment. Last week, prosecutors announced Ryson Ellis, 22, of Kansas City, was charged with second-degree murder in his killing.
As of Monday, 127 people have been slain in homicides this year in Kansas City, according to data maintained by The Star, which includes police shootings. There had been 91 killings by this time last year, which ended with 153 homicides.
Kansas City's deadliest year was 2017, when 155 people were slain, according to The Star's data. There had been 98 homicides reported by this time that year.
Nonfatal shootings are also up. As of Sunday, 408 people have been shot and survived this year in Kansas City. That's compared to 328 by that time last year, which ended with 491 living victims, according to police data.
At the news conference, the parents of one homicide victim, 21-year-old Chieyenne Wallis, recalled how her smile lit up a room. She left behind two children, ages 2 and 3, when she was killed in a shooting July 24 at the Cloverleaf Apartments off Interstate 49 near Missouri 150 highway, they said.
Each time there is a knock on the door, one of Wallis' children thinks it's their mother. Chantell Wallis, the victim's mother, has to explain that their mother is asleep. The child then asks when Wallis will wake up.
"Guns are not the answer; you're taking people's loved ones away," Chantell Wallis said, calling for better conflict resolution and expressing her gratitude to the police department. "I lost my daughter to something senseless."
Later Monday afternoon, Jackson County prosecutors announced Michael Skinner, 22, of Grandview, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in Wallis' killing.
One witness told police she heard Wallis screaming for help that day. Skinner punched and pistol-whipped Wallis before she ran from the apartment, according to charging documents released Monday. Gunshots were then fired.
Another witness reported seeing Skinner shoot Wallis outside the apartment, prosecutors said.
"Chieyenne was the life of the party," said Chantell Wallis, saying of the allegations: "He dimmed our light when he did that."
