Police say recent gun violence tied to Towne East Mall shooting in March

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The Wichita Police Department says a recent uptick in gang violence is connected to the March 15 shooting at Towne East Mall.

Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan held a press conference Friday morning, inviting local community and religious leaders to discuss the recent increase in violence in the community.

Chief Sullivan says the vast majority of the violence is gang-related feuds, with the majority of them connected to the mall shooting that killed 14-year-old TrenJ’vious Hutton.

The chief gave a timeline of the events so far this month:

  • Dec. 10: A driveby shooting at Oliver and Kensington St involved two men shooting at each other.
  • Dec. 11: A man remains in critical condition after he was shot in the head in the 2600 block of N. Green.
  • Dec. 16: An 18-year-old man was shot in the head in the 4200 block of N. Delrose and remains in critical condition.
  • Dec. 16: In retaliation for the following shooting, there was a drive-by shooting in the 1300 block of E Kemper at the home of the shooter. Police arrested the suspect in the Delrose shooting at the home.
  • Dec. 23: In the 900 block of S Mission, four people were shot during a party. Two of them died at an apartment. Though not directly tied to gang violence, there are suspected gang connections. Police say the shooting was over a debt of just $50. Two men are facing charges.
  • Dec. 24: In the 7800 block of E. Douglas, a couple with Christmas presents in their vehicle were carjacked at gunpoint by four teens armed with handguns. Three suspects were arrested after a chase. The youngest gunman was just 13 years old. Police say that the incident was gang-related but not directly tied to feuds.
  • Dec. 25: In the 500 block of N Rock Road. Two men were shot at by another group of men in retaliation for the Dec. 16 Delrose shooting, according to police.
  • Dec. 27: Shortly before 6 a.m., a 23-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl were shot. The 13-year-old was struck 13 times. Police say this shooting stemmed from an argument.
  • Dec. 28: In the 4900 block of E. Kensington, four juveniles with gang affiliation shot at a house at least seven times. The shooting was live-streamed over social media

Watch the full press conference below:

window.loadAnvato({“mcp”:”LIN”,”width”:”100%”,”height”:”100%”,”video”:”8269840″,”autoplay”:false,”expect_preroll”:true,”pInstance”:”p2″,”plugins”:{“comscore”:{“clientId”:”6036439″,”c3″:”fourstateshomepage.com”,”version”:”5.2.0″,”useDerivedMetadata”:true,”mapping”:{“c3″:”fourstateshomepage.com”,”ns_st_st”:”ksnf”,”ns_st_pu”:”Nexstar”,”ns_st_ge”:”Home,Video,News,Local,Video”,”cs_ucfr”:””}},”dfp”:{“adTagUrl”:”https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=1×1000&iu=/5678/nx.ksnf/news/local_news/landing&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vmap&unviewed_position_start=1&ad_rule=1&description_url=https://www.fourstateshomepage.com/news/local-news/feed/&cust_params=vid%3D8269840%26pers_cid%3Dunknown%26vidcat%3D/news/local_news%26bob_ck%3D[bob_ck_val]%26d_code%3D1%26pagetype%3Dsubindex%26hlmeta%3Dlocal%20news%26aa%3Df”},”nielsen”:{“apid”:”P87BDC937-35FC-49C4-98DF-51C5AB6453D7″,”sfcode”:”dcr”,”type”:”dcr”,”apn”:”Anvato”,”environment”:”production”,”useDerivedMetadata”:true,”mapping”:{“adloadtype”:2,”adModel”:2}},”segmentCustom”:{“script”:”https://segment.psg.nexstardigital.net/anvato.js”,”writeKey”:”R3EdxCM6cumaqXRG8RNnbkgaVmCNgS7p”,”pluginsLoadingTimeout”:12}},”expectPrerollTimeout”:8,”accessKey”:”DKMpWA7bjL3dpUj0GrTlvu5w0GLQm3nv”,”token”:”eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ2aWQiOiI4MjY5ODQwIiwiaXNzIjoiREtNcFdBN2JqTDNkcFVqMEdyVGx2dTV3MEdMUW0zbnYiLCJleHAiOjE2NzI2MzEwNTd9.w4c5QQ8fWiQUhT2UsG_5BaK08NZLw6i4rQOqAK8vAk0″,”nxs”:{“mp4Url”:”https://tkx.mp.lura.live/rest/v2/mcp/video/8269840?anvack=Y5VD6EydZnxVKuv6pHqrsJgjpeAvGRwl&token=%7E5iq%2FeJsDbUS%2BNCZXZVelWbloGseZvo70MQ%3D%3D”,”enableFloatingPlayer”:true},”disableMutedAutoplay”:false,”recommendations”:false,”expectPreroll”:true,”titleVisible”:true,”pauseOnClick”:true,”trackTimePeriod”:60,”isPermutiveEnabled”:true});

Wichita police say gangs are utilizing social media to antagonize each other. Investigators are constantly monitoring local gang activity online. The department says they are currently keeping tabs on around 150 people in connection to recent gang activity.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *