Police ask landlords for help as crime surges at two west Wichita apartment complexes
After one Wichita teen was killed and another was injured in a Sunday evening shooting, Wichita police are turning to property managers at two west Wichita apartment complexes for help in curbing the rapidly rising crime rates on their properties.
The two apartments are Morgan’s Landing and Magnolia Woods, where combined calls for police at the two complexes jumped 74% from 2019 to 2020, Wichita Police Officer Charley Davidson said.
Since Jan. 10, 2020, four people have been killed at the two apartment complexes — three at Magnolia Woods and one at Morgan’s Landing. Only one person had been killed at either apartment complex in the previous 20 years, police records show.
“Wichita Police Department has been and will continue to work with management at these locations on helping reduce and eliminate violent crime at these locations,” Davidson said.
The latest call came Sunday night at Morgan’s Landing after three unidentified suspects wearing masks and armed with handguns forced their way into an apartment and fired several shots, hitting two 17-year-old males, Wichita police Capt. Jason Stevens said.
Erik Stokes was killed in the shooting. Another 17-year-old, who police did not identify because he is a minor, was taken to the hospital with injuries. The three suspects fled the area on foot and remain at-large, Stevens said.
“The investigation is still ongoing,” Stevens said. “I want to stress that it was not a random incident, and it is believed that drugs were a factor in this homicide.”
The two apartment complexes are tucked behind and adjacent to several popular businesses, including Genesis Health Club, Dillon’s, multiple restaurants and QuikTrip at 13th and West.
“I do know that there’s been a substantial amount of police calls at both of those apartment complexes,” Davidson said. “When looking at both places together from 2019 to 2020, we noticed an increase in police calls there from 267 to 465. This year thus far we’ve had 188 police calls when combining those two area locations. ... That’s a substantial amount of police resources.”
In August 2020, Morgan’s Landing was acquired by Colorado-based Monarch Investment and Management Group, the company that owns and runs the Monarch Mountain ski resort near Salida, Colorado. It’s one of the largest apartment management companies in the United States, owning and managing more than 63,000 apartment units in 21 states. Magnolia Woods is owned by Madison of Wichita LLC, with a registered address in Oklahoma City.
“A shocking and tragic incident occurred last night at our property,” Geoff Frazier of Monarch Investment and Management Group said Monday, in an email. “Although we do not yet have many details on the incident at this time our staff is fully cooperating with the Wichita Police Department in every way possible in this active investigation.
“The safety of our residents and our staff is our absolute highest priority as we have many security measures in place at our community. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this incident,” he said.
Besides sheer volume of calls, a check of Wichita Police records show a rise in violent crimes at the two complexes in the past five years. Felony assault, battery and robberies jumped from three in 2017 to 15 in 2020.
If crime continues to increase at the apartment complexes, the city could enforce a nuisance ordinance that would charge the property owners with providing a nuisance abatement plan to reduce crime and paying the actual cost of any subsequent law enforcement, including hourly wages and overtime, reported at the apartments.
“That is a possible tool as well,” Davidson said of the nuisance ordinance. “But the first thing we do is begin communicating with those managers.”
This story was originally published April 26, 2021 at 3:30 PM.