Man, 29, pleads guilty in wife’s shooting at Watson Park

A man charged with fatally shooting his estranged wife at O.J. Watson Park last fall has pleaded guilty to first-degree felony murder.

Pierre Ross Washington, 29, shot 26-year-old Diana Washington at least seven times while in the park, near 31st Street South and McLean, then drove her to a friend’s house about two miles away before calling 911 on Oct. 28, authorities have said. Police officers found Diana Washington’s body in a van parked outside the house at 1324 W. 42nd St. South; she was pronounced dead at a Wichita hospital.

Washington admitted to shooting his wife on purpose when he called 911, according to a police affidavit filed in his criminal case. Earlier that day he called one of his wife’s relatives and told her he’d been thinking about killing Diana and her new boyfriend, the affidavit says.

Washington is scheduled for sentencing April 28. He pleaded guilty Tuesday, according to court records and Dan Dillon, spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.

He faces life in prison.