Woman's death similar to twin's suicide
-- A 27-YEAR-OLD woman who was killed by Kent police Thursday had confided to a friend that "she wanted to go out like her sister. She wanted to die with the police chasing her."
The death of a 27-year-old woman at the hands of Kent police Thursday is eerily similar to her twin sister's death in Idaho more than two years ago.
Guadalupe M. Martinez died after being shot several times by Kent officers after she got out of her car while she held what appeared to be a handgun. She died while being taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Her twin sister, Evelia Martinez, died after she shot herself while being chased by police in Minidoka County in south-central Idaho in June 1998.
Friends and co-workers said yesterday that Guadalupe Martinez was sometimes despondent about her twin's death, especially around the time of their birthday.
Guadalupe and Evelia Martinez were born Nov. 3, a date known to have sent Guadalupe into a deep depression, said Richard Castillo, a close friend and co-worker at Titus Tool in Kent.
"She was really depressed every anniversary of her sister's death and on their birthday, which just passed," Castillo said.
Castillo acknowledged that she had confided to him that "she wanted to go out like her sister. She wanted to die with the police chasing her."
Sister shot herself
Evelia Martinez died June 20, 1998, two miles south of Rupert, Idaho, on Interstate 84.
An Idaho state trooper had attempted to stop Evelia for erratic driving, according to Don Fisher, Minidoka County coroner. Evelia, however, did not stop, but continued driving and eventually shot herself in the chest. Her car came to a stop after crashing into a steel fence post.
The car tires continued spinning, which started a fire and an explosion, Fisher said. An autopsy determined she died of the gunshot and her death was ruled a suicide. A note in her car indicated she was despondent over a breakup with a boyfriend.
Guadalupe Martinez died late Thursday afternoon after Kent officers, believing she held a real gun, shot and killed her following a car chase.
Kent police haven't said what type of weapon Martinez was holding, but relatives, and some acquaintances, who have talked to Kent officers say they were told it was a BB gun.
The incident began when a Kent officer questioned Guadalupe Martinez earlier in the afternoon after finding her sitting in an unlicensed car in Russell Road Park. Guadalupe handed over her identification. The officer discovered that she had been reported missing by a sister in California.
When the officer approached the car a second time, asking about the report, Martinez sped off, nearly hitting the officer, police said. Officers pursued the vehicle, but broke it off because she was weaving through heavy traffic at about 70 mph.
Martinez's car was spotted by another officer on the Kent-Des Moines Highway when Martinez, bogged down in traffic, drove onto the shoulder for some 300 yards. Police eventually boxed Martinez's car between two patrol cars.
Police gave the following account of what happened next: "The officers ordered her from the car at gunpoint. When the woman got out of her car she had a handgun and pointed it at the officers and at other drivers stuck in traffic around her. Before she shot anyone, two officers fired their weapons, causing her to fall and drop her handgun."
An autopsy showed that Martinez died after being shot more than once, but authorities haven't released how many times she was hit.
The twins' sister, Bertha Mancha, of Long Beach, Calif., isn't sure Guadalupe wanted to die.
"She was just here, she was fine, she went to Disneyland," Mancha said yesterday.
Mancha had filed a missing-person report with Kent police, however, after being unable to reach her sister by telephone in Kent.
Low moods would pass
Don James, a co-worker, said acquaintances knew Guadalupe Martinez was upset over her sister's death, but her low moods eventually would pass and she'd be in a good mood again.
Castillo was concerned enough that he encouraged Guadalupe to see a counselor at work. Castillo said Guadalupe Martinez had a son, whom she gave up for adoption. He is about 5 and Guadalupe saw him periodically.
The twins, born in Mexico, were said to be nearly inseparable.
"They were very close, they were twins, they moved everywhere together. They never lived apart," Castillo said.
Francine Steuernagel, human resources director for Titus where Guadalupe worked for four years, said Evelia Martinez also had worked at Titus from 1996 to 1998.
The twins had moved with their family to California as children, settling in Garden Grove where they and two other sisters were raised, Mancha said. When Evelia moved to Kent several years ago, Guadalupe quickly followed.
An inquest will beheld, as is mandatory in King County any time a police officer kills someone.
The officers have been put on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
Kent police requested that Auburn police conduct the investigation.