Police identify teen killed in shooting south of Wichita State

One Wichita girl is dead and three teens have been arrested after a car chase and shooting south of Wichita State University on Thursday afternoon.

Wichita police identified the victim as 16-year-old Azuri Jones. The suspects have not been named by police.

According to Wichita Police Department, Jones was killed after she and some of her female friends went to pick up another 16-year-old girl involved in a disturbance with three teenage boys. The boys chased them by car through a neighborhood and fired multiple shots at their car.

Jones’ killing was the second midday shooting involving Wichita teenagers in three days. On Tuesday, three students were injured in a shooting near East High School. Wichita Police Capt. Jeff Weible said he did not know if Thursday’s shooting was gang related.

“Any time there’s violence with teens, it’s alarming and concerning,” he said. “And it’s going to take not only the Wichita Police Department but the community as a whole to intervene in some of that violence. It’s going to take efforts on the parts of parents, loved ones, family members — all to help in identifying who may be carrying guns, especially teenagers.”

Around lunchtime on Thursday afternoon, three teenage boys were in a red Kia with a 16-year-old girl in a parking lot near 13th and Oliver. The female and one of the male teenagers “got into a disturbance” inside the car, police said in a statement Thursday night.

During the disturbance, four of the girl’s friends — including Jones — pulled up in a white Honda and picked up the friend who had been in the car with the teenage boys. But the disturbance continued, and the three boys got back into the Kia and began chasing the girls in the Honda through the Ken-Mar neighborhood northwest of 13th and Oliver, police said.

Near 15th and Ken-Mar, one of the teenage boys fired multiple gunshots at the Honda, striking Jones, who was in the back seat.

Shortly after the shooting, which was reported at 1:17 p.m., Jones’ friends took her to Wesley hospital, where she died from her injuries, Wichita police said.

Three teenage suspects — two 17-year-old males and a 16-year-old male — were arrested near 17th and Hillside after the shooting. When police found them, they had abandoned the Kia, which had been reported stolen on Wednesday, and fled on foot. Police also recovered a firearm, Weible said.

This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 3:11 PM.