Feud between gang members led to bystander killing, affidavit says

A feud between two gang members culminated in a parking lot shootout that left a 25-year-old bystander dead in June, according to an police affidavit released Tuesday by Sedgwick County District Court.

Police called to the strip mall at 3934 E. 13th St. on June 17 over the shooting found Erick Vazquez sitting in the driver’s seat of his Nissan truck with two bullet wounds to his head and one to his trunk, the affidavit said. He was declared dead on site, and police found several 9mm shell casings scattered west of the Nissan.

Wichita police immediately after the shooting called it gang-related but released few details about what led to the gunfire.

According to the affidavit, one of the gang members allegedly involved that night, 18-year-old Jeremy Levy, had gone to an area barbershop for a haircut and saw the other gang member, 22-year-old Keandre Summers, sitting on a truck with other people across from the building. Levy, who was wearing an arm sling after being injured in an earlier shooting, told the employee cutting his hair that he had been “beefing” with Summers and was “hesitant to leave” the shop, the affidavit says.

Levy eventually left the barbershop through the front door and headed west, the affidavit says. Summers yelled at Levy after Levy walked out and then the men exchanged gunfire, according to witness accounts mentioned in the document. One witness told police the men fired 20 to 25 shots.

Police have said Vazquez went to the strip mall with a friend to buy cigarettes the night he died and was not the intended target of the shooting. Several vehicles, a handicap sign and a nearby building also were hit by bullets.

Levy is a member of the Piru Blood criminal street gang, according to the affidavit. Summers belongs to the Gangster Disciple criminal street gang, it says.

Levy and Summers each are facing a charge of felony first-degree murder in connection with Vazquez’s death. Levy remained in the Sedgwick County Jail on Tuesday in lieu of $150,000 bond, according to online jail records. Summers was being held on bonds totaling $300,000, records show.

Neither has had the chance to enter a not-guilty plea to the murder charge.

This story was originally published August 9, 2017 at 8:25 AM with the headline "Feud between gang members led to bystander killing, affidavit says."