Police think 18-year-old killed during marijuana deal

Wichita police think an 18-year-old killed Monday in a residential neighborhood in southeast Wichita was shot during a marijuana deal.

D’Shaun Smith of Wichita was found dead in a car in the 6200 block of East Orme at around 1:15 p.m. after someone called 911. Another 18-year-old – identified as Mark Lewis Holley III on a Sedgwick County Jail report – was arrested and booked on suspicion of first-degree felony murder and aggravated robbery in connection with the shooting, said Lt. Todd Ojile, the head of the police department’s homicide unit.

Online jail records listed no bond amount for Holley on Tuesday.

Smith was shot once. Ojile would not disclose the location of the bullet wound when questioned by reporters Tuesday during the police department’s regular weekday news briefing at City Hall.

Ojile said Smith and an 18-year-old woman connected with Holley over the phone, possibly through a mutual acquaintance, and arranged to meet him in the residential neighborhood to carry out a drug deal. The address is near Kellogg and Woodlawn.

“During this transaction, the suspect pulled a firearm and attempted to rob” Smith and the woman, Ojile said.

“A shot was fired during the attempt, and then the suspect fled on foot.”

The car Smith died in belongs to the woman he was with, Ojile said. She is also from Wichita, Officer Charley Davidson said Monday.

Ojile said police detectives and special community action team officers on Monday night tracked Holley down at a home where he lives near the shooting scene. They watched the house for a while and caught Holley as he was leaving, Ojile said.

Ojile said the police department plans to present the details of its investigation for possible criminal charges to the Sedgwick County prosecutors’ office later this week.

Smith’s death is the city’s eighth homicide of 2017.

This story was originally published April 4, 2017 at 12:07 PM with the headline "Police think 18-year-old killed during marijuana deal."