Man arrested after deadly weekend shooting behind south Wichita club, police say

Update:

Wichita police have arrested a man suspected of shooting and killing a 22-year-old man behind a South Wichita club.

Jose Enrique Fortiz, 26, of Wichita, was arrested Monday on suspicion of first-degree murder and an outstanding warrant, Officer Charley Davidson said in a news release.

Fortiz is suspected of shooting at Anthony Slaughter multiple times with a handgun during a disturbance behind the Rumba Latina Club, police said.

Fortiz was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail at around 4:45 p.m., jail logs show. The investigation is ongoing, police said.

Kansas Department of Corrections records show Fortiz has criminal convictions in Sedgwick County in connection to a 2012 robbery.

Original story:

A 22-year-old man was shot while behind the Rumba Latina club in south Wichita on Saturday night, Lt. Jeff Gilmore said during Monday’s news briefing. This is the city’s third shooting death of 2019.

At about 11:38 p.m. Saturday, police received four calls about a shooting near Hydraulic and Mt. Vernon, Gilmore said. Three of those calls were from people who reported hearing “several” shots behind fired. The fourth call was from the victim, 22-year-old Anthony J. Slaughter.

The victim had passed his phone to people nearby who had stopped to help him, Gilmore said. One of those helpers told police they saw a man running before he collapsed in the street.

When officers arrived, they saw Slaughter lying in the street, just west of Greenwood on Mt. Vernon, Gilmore said. Paramedics who arrived just after police treated him on scene before taking him to the hospital.

Slaughter was pronounced dead at 12:41 a.m., Gilmore said.

Police say a “disturbance” behind Rumba Latina in the 1950 block of S. Hydraulic led to the fatal shooting.

Multiple shots were fired, Gilmore said, and Slaughter was struck one time in the upper chest. He then ran one block to the west where he collapsed.

Gilmore said investigators have talked to numerous people regarding the shooting, and they are now asking for the community’s help. If you have any additional information, police ask that you call Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.

The investigation is ongoing.

The first shooting death this year in Wichita occurred when a man was shot by Wichita officers after nearly running them over. The second occurred when a 9-year-old boy was accidentally shot by his 11-year-old friend.

This story was originally published February 4, 2019 at 11:09 AM.