Wichita man faces 6 counts of attempted murder of girlfriend, daughters at Cheney lake
The Wichita man who was the subject of a manhunt around Cheney Reservoir earlier this month after he allegedly kidnapped and repeatedly attacked his girlfriend and shot their toddler has been charged in Reno County District Court with a dozen crimes including attempted premeditated murder.
Kamden Campos was arrested July 19 after authorities say he convinced his girlfriend to put their two young daughters in a car that ended up along a lake shoreline, forced her toward the water with plans to harm her and then shot at the car she escaped in while the children were inside.
The couple’s 2-year-old was hit in the back by gunfire as she sat in her car seat, authorities said previously. The other girl, an 8-month-old baby, was unharmed.
The toddler was in critical condition after the shooting and underwent surgery at a Wichita hospital but is expected to survive, the authorities have said.
Campos, 21, made his first appearance in court Tuesday morning, where a judge told him that he will be prosecuted for six counts of attempted premeditated murder, three counts of aggravated battery, two counts of criminal threat and one count of aggravated kidnapping, court records show.
Most of the attempted murder counts list Campos’ girlfriend as the victim. The complaint filed in the case says Campos not only tried to kill her with a knife and drown her on July 19 but also attempted to light her on fire and shot at her. In addition, the complaint accuses him of kidnapping her with the intention of harming or terrorizing her, injuring her with the knife and threatening her with violence.
Their daughters are the victims of the other two counts of attempted murder, records show. The toddler is the victim of one of the aggravated battery charges.
The Eagle is not naming the girlfriend because she is the victim of domestic violence.
Campos remained in the Reno County Jail on Tuesday in lieu of $2.1 million bond.
An arrest report and jail intake form included in court records gives the most complete account publicly released to date that describes what happened on July 19.
Here’s what it says the girlfriend told authorities about the ordeal:
The girlfriend lives with her mother in Wichita and had been “split up” from Campos for about a week and a half before the alleged kidnapping and shooting. Campos, whom the girlfriend told authorities is an opiate addict, arrived at her mother’s home on July 19 and “had blue pills in his possession.”
The girlfriend “became upset with him about the pills and confronted him.”
In response, Campos “became angry and began threatening her and her family saying he was going to shoot her.”
He “always carries a gun in a holster” including “a Glock and an FN pistol he carried on a regular basis,” the girlfriend told authorities.
After the threat, Campos told his girlfriend that he wanted her to leave the house with him “and she became frightened for her life.” She complied and got into a car, fearing what might happen if she refused. The couple’s two young daughters went with them.
Campos told his girlfriend that he “was going to take her somewhere to pick up a birthday gift for a family member.”
But as he drove further away from Wichita, she realized that he had lied.
She told authorities that Campos “began threatening to shoot her and stab her” on the drive from Wichita to Reno County and at one point pulled a folding knife out of the console “and began trying to stab her with it.”
The blade nicked her, leaving scratches on her right arm. She told authorities she “was able to deflect the knife and knocked it out of his hands” onto the floorboard under Campos’ feet.
The girlfriend told authorities that after they arrived at the lake, Campos grabbed her, pulled her out of the car and forced her toward the edge of the water. There, he “forced her to get on her knees, telling her he was going to shoot her in the head.”
“He also tried to force her head into the water.”
The girlfriend told authorities that Campos at one point was also looking for a bat beside the car.
When he couldn’t find it, he “grabbed a bottle of lighter fluid and doused her with it” and “tried to get a lighter from the car.”
But she was able to stop him.
When Campos started walking back to the beach, the girlfriend “jumped into the vehicle and took off.”
Campos pulled a gun and fired at least three times, the girlfriend told authorities. Only one shot hit the car, in the trunk area.
The girlfriend said after the shooting, her toddler started crying, but she thought the girl was “just scared.”
Later, she noticed the girl “arching her back” while she was sitting in the car seat, so she pulled over.
That’s when she discovered the gunshot wound to her lower back and called 911.
This story was originally published July 27, 2021 at 12:17 PM.
