Two suspects charged with murder in shooting over marijuana deal in south Wichita

A Wichita man has been charged with killing a teenager during a drug deal that ended with gunshots and marijuana being stolen.

Malcolm Louis Ganther, 22, was charged Tuesday in Sedgwick County District Court with first-degree murder and aggravated battery. The charges are in connection to a shooting last week that led to the death of 17-year-old Marcus Sain.

Ganther is being held in the Sedgwick County Jail in lieu of a $500,000 bond.

Wichita police have said Ganther and a second suspect drove separate vehicles to the Fox Run Apartments parking lot near Harry and Webb on May 20. The afternoon drug deal involved two teenagers getting into Ganther’s Buick car.

A disturbance inside the vehicle led to the second suspect getting out of his Ford Mustang, going over to the Buick and shooting both teenagers. Ganther and the second suspect fled in their vehicles, leaving the teenagers bleeding from gunshot wounds.

When police arrived, they found Sain in the parking lot with critical injuries. He was taken to a hospital, where he died on May 21. The second teenager, an 18-year-old man, showed up several minutes later at a hospital as a walk-in shooting victim. He was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released.

Ganther was arrested the day after the shooting at his home in the 300 block of North Edgemoor. Police are searching for the second suspect. Anyone with information on his person’s whereabouts is asked to call 911 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111. Police have not publicly identified him.

Prosecutors allege in Ganther’s murder charge that Sain’s killing happened in the commission of an “inherently dangerous felony” — distributing marijuana. The aggravated battery charge alleges he caused great bodily harm to the second victim.

The second suspect was charged in the same complaint, though his name is redacted from public court documents. Prosecutors allege he also killed Sain as part of an aggravated robbery. He is accused of robbing Ganther of marijuana at gunpoint. He faces charges of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery.