KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- With lights shining down upon it, Frank Davila's motorcycle sat in a place of honor at Knuckleheads in the East Bottoms on Wednesday night.
"It was part of the man he was," Frankie Davila said of the customized Chiefs Harley that belonged to his father.
It was there for one final bike night in honor of the 86-year-old, who was killed last month when someone tried to steal his car and he fought back.
The flag hanging over the Knuckleheads stage on Wednesday also had special meaning. It once flew over Frankie D's, the restaurant Davila owned and operated for more than 40 years. In that time he became an icon not only to his family, but also to an entire community.
"There was Frankie D, and there was dad, and he was great at both," Frankie Davila said.
"Not just we were his family; it was everybody. It was all of Wyandotte County. It was Kansas City," Davila's grandson Emilio Sandoval explained.
As the family tries to come to terms with Davila's death, they say the most heartbreaking part is that their beloved father and grandfather would have helped the thief if he'd only asked for help.
"The thing that I keep coming back to is it was completely senseless," Sandoval said through tears.
Thirty-one-year-old Dominic Mcgee has been charged in his death. The family is relieved he's off the streets, but that doesn't make it any easier for them to look at Frankie D's empty bike.
"I don't know how to be angry at Dominic McGee. He's going to have to live with this, and we have to live without Frankie D," Frankie Davila said.
A color guard honored Frankie D with a 21-gun salute at Knuckleheads before presenting the family with a flag for the Army veteran.
KCKPD says more arrests could follow in this case.
