Woman who squatted in vacant home where Wichita cops were shot gets probation
A woman caught squatting in a vacant house where Wichita police officers were inadvertently injured by a sawed-off shotgun tucked in the side pocket of a living room recliner has been sentenced to two years of probation after pleading guilty to counts of burglary and misdemeanor theft.
Sedgwick County District Judge David Dahl sentenced Tiffany Vulgamore, 44, of Wichita, on Tuesday. She pleaded guilty on March 8, court records show.
Wichita police have previously said Vulgamore and her then-boyfriend, James A. Hathorn, weren’t inside of the home, in the 1400 block of South St. Francis, when the officers were hurt on Feb. 27, 2021. But they had been squatting there.
Both were homeless drug addicts who had sought shelter in the house, partly to escape frigid winter weather, court records indicate.
Three officers went to the house, near Broadway and Harry, after its owner reported a break-in and missing property including a washer and dryer set, a TV, a game console and a $300 jacket, an affidavit released in the case says.
The gun discharged when an officer bumped into the recliner as police made their way through the living room. The blast hit two officers in their legs.
A special weapons and tactics, or SWAT, team and bomb squad spent several hours at home, attempting to find out if anyone was inside, after the shooting.
Initially, police were concerned the gun was part of a booby trap designed to ambush officers or others entering the home. But that theory was later deemed false.
Vulgamore originally pleaded not guilty to the charges. She could be ordered to serve a yearlong underlying prison sentence if she fails to follow the terms of her probation.
Hathorn, 47, also of Wichita, is serving 32 months in prison for his involvement in events that resulted in the shooting. He was sentenced in December on counts of burglary, theft, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a sawed-off shotgun.
Dahl, at the time of Hathorn’s sentencing hearing, said while the shooting wasn’t intentional, burglarizing the home and storing an illegal and loaded shotgun in the recliner had created an unsafe environment that led to the officers’ injuries, The Eagle previously reported.
