Teenage boy, 14, killed in shooting at Towne East Square

A 14-year-old boy died and two teenagers were arrested after a shooting sent waves of panic through Wichita’s largest shopping center.

Towne East Square was closed and systematically evacuated Friday evening after the shooting and resulting chaos as shoppers and employees ran for their lives.

Police said the shooting, which followed a fistfight near the food court, is believed to have been gang-related.

“During the altercation, one of the juveniles brandished a firearm, shooting the victim several times,” said Chad Ditch, a police spokesman.

Police took a young male into custody shortly after the shooting. He was armed with a black handgun. They captured a second suspect shortly after. Their ages were found to be 16 and 17.

The shooting started about 5:30 p.m. with an argument among several young people.

About 3 1/2 hours after the shooting, Mayor Brandon Whipple addressed the city on Facebook Live.

“It’s an incredible tragedy,” Whipple said. “These were children. These are teenagers. A 14-year-old isn’t going home to his parents tonight because of a fight . . . I can’t imagine what a parent would be going through to get that call that their son has passed away in something so senseless and stupid as a fistfight in a mall.”

He said it indicates two citywide problems that need attention from City Hall: Young people who feel cut off from opportunity and easy access to firearms, many of which are stolen from lawful gun owners’ cars.

A witness’ video, broadcast on KAKE-TV, showed what appeared to be five people fighting, when four shots were fired. The video did not show how many people remained on the floor after the shooting.

One witness, a woman in her early 20s, told The Eagle she saw and heard the argument that led to the shooting, but ran when she heard gunshots and did not stick around to see who was hit.

Another witness, a young man who works at a store in the mall, said he was on his lunch break at the food court when the shooting broke out. He described it as a “scene of chaos” as terrified employees and shoppers bolted for the exits.

The store employee said he had been informed that the mall, at Rock Road and Kellogg, would remain closed Friday night and his boss told him not to come to work on Saturday.

When police arrived, they secured the facility and kept remaining patrons inside. They were being interviewed as potential witnesses and released in groups after police talked to them.

Amy Patel, 42, was shopping with her husband at the mall when the shooting broke out. They were separated and in different stores when she heard the shots.

She was in the Aeropostale store on the upper level and after the shooting, joined a group of about 10 people who evacuated into a service hallway that runs behind the stores.

“I just ran, my husband was inside so I’m a little scared,” she said. “We were just scared and we don’t know where we were going to go.”

They wound up exiting through an employees-only door. “We just see the exit and just go,” she said.

She was able to contact her husband by phone and found out he was safe. But he was kept inside by police as they sifted through potential witnesses, and he hadn’t been released two hours after the shooting.

Katherine Morales, husband Rocky and their children (ages 14, 13 and 3) were meeting someone in the JC Penney parking lot to sell a vehicle when they heard gunshots. Dozens of people came running out of the exits.

“All of a sudden there were people running everywhere and a lady actually yelled at us that somebody was shooting and take cover,” Katherine Morales said. “People were screaming take cover.”

“We saw families running out crying and screaming,” added her husband. “Mothers, kids, children. There was a dad that had a stroller, the whole stroller, (carrying it) in his hands. He was running. To see that kind of stuff, it’s crazy.

“You see this in news in big cities . . . It freaks you out that something like that would happen, a shooting in a mall, here in Wichita.”

This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 6:45 PM.