Wichita police investigating two reports of fatal shootings

Wichita police late Thursday were investigating reports of two fatal shootings that left two people dead and two critically injured, according to authorities.

Wichita police Sgt. Brian Goward said officers responded to a report of a shooting in the 800 block of South San Pablo at 8:42 p.m. and found an adult man in the basement of a duplex with an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead.

A neighbor had called 911 to report hearing a gunshot, Goward said.

Police were looking for an adult male suspect and were interviewing potential witnesses, Goward said.

Police also responded to a report of a fatal shooting just before 9 p.m. near 53rd Street North and Meridian, according to a Sedgwick County emergency dispatcher. In a late-evening media briefing about that incident, Wichita police Lt. Dale Mattern said officers had responded to an accident scene near 53rd and Meridian in which a car had veered off the road.

Three occupants of the car, all men in their 20s, were seriously injured, Mattern said. One occupant later died. Mattern would not confirm whether the person died as a result of a shooting or other injuries.

The two other occupants of the car were taken to Via Christi Hospital St. Francis in critical condition.

Police took a man in his 20s into custody at the scene and were questioning him late Thursday, Mattern said.

Goward said late Thursday that police don’t think the two incidents are related. Police planned to release more details at a 10 a.m. Friday news briefing.

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 10:25 PM with the headline "Wichita police investigating two reports of fatal shootings."