20-year-old Air Force airman from S.C. killed in east Wichita shooting, police say

Wichita police have identified a 20-year-old Air Force airman from South Carolina who was killed in a shooting at a party early Saturday morning.

Chancelor Williams, 20, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, died after he was shot in the parking lot of Horizons East Apartments, 505 N. Rock Road, police Officer Kevin Wheeler said in a news release.

Emergency crews were called at around 2:05 a.m. Saturday to the apartment complex after a 911 caller reported that shots had been fired, Wheeler said. Police found Williams unresponsive in the parking lot, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators determined that a disturbance broke out during a party at an apartment, police said. A man then got out of a vehicle and fired a gun into the crowd, striking four people. Williams is the only victim of the shooting to have died.

McConnell Air Force Base officials said the man killed in the off-base shooting was an airman.

“Team McConnell is deeply saddened by the loss of one of our airmen,” Col. Richard Tanner, commander of the 22nd Air Refueling Wing, said in a statement. “We come together as a community to support our families and all those affected by this tragic incident.”

A 21-year-old man and a 22-year-old man were taken by ambulance to a hospital, treated for injuries that were not considered life-threatening and released. A 19-year-old woman with gunshot wounds was taken by a private vehicle to a hospital. She remained hospitalized Sunday afternoon but is expected to survive, police said.

Police arrested the suspected shooter, identified as Markeithen McClaine, 25, on suspicion of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated battery. Sedgwick County Jail records show he remained in jail, in lieu of a $500,000 bond Sunday afternoon. Court records show criminal charges have not yet been filed.

This story was originally published July 28, 2019 at 12:53 PM.