Man arrested on suspicion of murder in Wichita nightclub shooting case

A 25-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Austen Wright over the weekend at a south Wichita nightclub, jail records show.

At 1:56 a.m. on Sunday, police were called to Vixen’s Erotic Sports Bar, a club in the 200 block of West Harry, police said. When officers arrived, they found a 24-year-old man in the back parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds.

The man who was shot was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. The man was later identified as Austen Wright of Wichita.

Hernan Quezada, 25, was arrested Monday at his home in the 800 block of north Crestway on suspicion of first-degree murder in the case, according to Sedgwick County Jail booking reports.

This is Wichita’s 33rd homicide this year and the second near Vixen’s this summer.

On June 30, 29-year-old Michael Maxwell was sitting in a vehicle in the 1500 block of south Water when a sport-utility vehicle pulled up beside him and someone inside the SUV fired several shots into Maxwell’s vehicle, hitting him multiple times, Lt. Todd Ojile said.

Police said they believed Maxwell’s shooting was a targeted attack. He was in Old Town earlier in the evening when he and a group of other men got into an altercation. He later went to Vixen’s and was later shot on the street near the club, Ojile said.

“Obviously, our investigators and officers are aware that this is the second homicide that has occurred in this area, and that is something that they will be following up on — working with business owners, working with citizens in the area as we continue to address violent crime in our city,” Officer Charley Davidson said.

This story was originally published August 14, 2018 at 7:12 AM.