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One last round in the ring: Friends say farewell to boxer who died after shooting in Lancaster

TOM KNAPP | Staff Writer | March 2, 2017

Jose Arroyo pulled on his gloves and stepped into the ring for one last sparring session with a talented young boxer from Lancaster.

Arroyo circled and swung, jabbing and deflecting imaginary blows as he danced around the ring -- all the while loudly exhorting his 19-year-old opponent to give it his all.

But his opponent, Daniel Eugenio Sanchez, wasn't there.

Sobs in the gym got louder as Arroyo moved around the ring -- some people wailing in sorrow and others walking out of the room to cry in private. Then Arroyo threw his gloves to the mat and collapsed on the ropes, weeping quietly.

"We're all going to finish that round for Danny," Jessica Martinez, wife of gym owner Jinji Martinez, said through her tears. "We're going to get that knockout for him."

Sanchez was wounded in a shooting late Sunday morning in the 100 block of Dauphin Street, police said. He died from his injuries Tuesday at Lancaster General Hospital.

On Thursday, friends gathered at Jinji's Boxing Club, 341 E. Liberty St., to say goodbye to the promising young fighter.

"This guy had talent," said Arroyo, who was one of Sanchez's trainers.

"He had his ups and downs," Arroyo said. "It happens to a lot of young people, they get pulled the wrong way. But this -- this was Danny's escape."

He called Sanchez a "humble giant," and said he loved to spar with anyone willing to face him in the ring.

Jinji and Jessica Martinez, Arroyo said, were the young man's surrogate parents.

"He was a tough kid, and I was tough with him," Arroyo said. "He had everything to become a professional. He had it. And life took it away from him."

White balloons

Dozens of people who gathered at the gym on Thursday seemed shocked by Danny's death.

Mourners wrote messages to Sanchez on white balloons, which they released into the sky. A single red balloon, released by Jinji Martinez, represented Sanchez.

"That Sunday, the day he died, he was supposed to go to church with us," Martinez said. "He was going to Texas with me in March. He was going to fight."

Martinez asked friends to share their thoughts and memories of Danny, but "not the bad stuff," he said. "I don't want to hear that."

So they talked about his gift for motivating others. His affection for friends and family. His amazing rice.

Jessica Martinez urged troubled youngsters in the crowd to seek help.

"We have to keep pushing, keep driving. Go to school, keep training -- all the stuff he pushed you to do. Do it for him," she said.

"If you're out there, if you feel alone, we're here in this gym. Get off the streets. We don't want to see anybody else get hurt," she added.. "He was too young. ... This is not the way he should have left us."

Still at large

Jose Gabriel Duque, 20, of 33 Garden Court, Apt. 4, was charged for the shooting and remains at large.

Investigators said the shooting occurred during an argument between the men. According to court documents, Duque pulled a gun from his waistband and fired several rounds at Sanchez.

Duque fled in a vehicle as the Sanchez collapsed in the street with multiple injuries, police said.

An autopsy will be conducted today.