Wichita police name man arrested in fatal motel shooting

Update 3:20 p.m. Tuesday:

Police have released the name of the suspect in the fatal shooting as 40-year-old Tyrone Lavar Adams, of Wichita.

Officers found a 34-year-old victim inside his 2005 Ford F-250 with a gunshot wound to his body. The man died at the motel.

“The investigation and reviewing evidence revealed the victim was from out of state and was in Wichita working and arrived at the location when he was contacted by Adams, who fired a handgun at the victim, striking him,” Wichita police said in a news release.

A handgun was recovered.

Adams was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder and criminal in possession of a firearm.

Adams has several convictions in Sedgwick County dating back to the late 1990s for aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, aggravated battery, a weapons violation and a drug conviction.

According to the Kansas Department of Corrections records, Adams has been in and out of prison since 1998 and has more than 100 disciplinary reports while incarcerated.

Original 11 a.m. Tuesday:

A 40-year-old man was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a Colorado man who was shot outside of a Wichita motel on Monday night, according to the Wichita Police Department.

It’s the second fatal shooting at Countryside Inn within a month.

Allred said police were called at about 11:45 p.m. and found the 34-year-old Colorado man who had been shot once in a vehicle parked at the motel, 803 S. Broadway. Allred said he thinks it was the man’s vehicle. He died at the scene.

Allred said the man arrived in Kansas about four days ago to work on a pipeline.

Officers used video surveillance to track the suspect to a nearby motel. A gun has been recovered, Allred said.

Officers are still investigating what led to the shooting, but Allred said police don’t believe the shooting was drug-related. Nor do they think it was a random shooting.

Allred said the killing was the 33rd criminal homicide of 2019. Wichita had 35 criminal homicides in 2018.

The 2019 homicides include the shooting death of 55-year-old Timothy Austin at the motel. The Wichita man was shot during an argument on Nov. 24. Police believe the shooting was drug-related. Police have arrested a few people in the case.

This story was originally published December 10, 2019 at 11:08 AM.