Teen charged in Kansas City killing of pregnant mother pushing baby in stroller
A teenager is accused of murder in the daylight killing of a 20-year-old pregnant woman who was shot to death while pushing her baby in a stroller outside a Kansas City convenience store in the summer of 2020.
David W. Everson, 19, was charged Monday with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the killing of Diamon Eichelburger, according to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office. Authorities charged him 15 months after Jovon Burell, a then-19-year-old accused of being the getaway driver, who faces a murder charge as well.
Police were first called to the 2600 block of Van Brunt Boulevard on a reported shooting call around 11:30 a.m. on July 20. The victim was lying in the parking lot there when officers arrived. She had suffered from multiple apparent gunshot wounds, an officer wrote in court documents.
Five spent shell casings were found at the scene. They were all located near the entrance of the 7-Eleven convenience store. Witnesses described seeing the gunfire come from the passenger side of a Chevrolet Impala with tinted windows in the parking lot, according to court records.
Eichelburger’s boyfriend was with her when the shooting unfolded, telling police that they had walked to the store from his home a few blocks away. After leaving the store, they were exiting the parking lot when they were approached by a gray vehicle with its passenger window halfway down. One man addressed them, saying: “Ain’t you Daimon?”
After she said yes, the man fired several shots toward them. The boyfriend told police he thought the suspects also had shot at him as he and Eichelburger scrambled away from the gunfire. She was four months pregnant at the time, he told police. The 1-year-old child was not injured in the shooting. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police arrested Burell, 20, on suspicion of second-degree murder and armed criminal action days later. Police tracked the suspect vehicle to him through its Missouri license plates. The investigation also centered on Burrell following Facebook communications that they became aware of, according to court records.
One Facebook post made shortly after the shooting that authorities connected to Burrell said “Fucc uh succa b----- she dead she dead” followed by two laughing-face emojis. Detectives also found a video from the same Facebook account that panned over the crime scene. It was taken from inside the suspected shooting vehicle and displayed a handgun on an unknown subject’s lap, according to court records.
During an initial interview with police, Burrell allegedly admitted to being at the scene when the shooting took place. But he denied firing the gun, court records state, saying the shots were fired by a person in the back passenger side of his car.
Everson was also interviewed separately by police in July 2020. He allegedly told them that he was uninvolved with firing the gun and was being driven home by Burrell and his juvenile brother. Everson allegedly told police at the time that the juvenile had fired seven shots from the back window, where Everson was sitting.
Last week, police interviewed another unnamed witness who was in the car at the time of the shooting, court records show. He told police that Everson was speaking with the woman before the gunfire started. And after leaving the scene, he allegedly told others in the car “she had to die because she set up his cousin,” according to court records.
Court records also reference tests done to detect the presence of gunshot residue on the windows of the car. They indicated that a gun was fired from the rear passenger window of the car.
In the days after the shooting, Everson allegedly admitted to taking part in text messages with other contacts in his phone. In one exchange, he allegedly wrote: “she was finna have me and everybody in (redacted) house set up and did in.” He also instructed those contacts to delete their text messages, court records show.
Everson was arrested Friday and declined to provide a statement to investigators at the time, court records state. Everson was booked into the Jackson County jail.
Burell also is being held in Jackson County jail. His bond is set at $300,000 cash-only.
The Star’s Luke Nozicka and Anna Spoerre contributed to this report.
