Wichita man pleads guilty in drive-by shooting at playground that hurt toddler
One of two Wichita men involved in a gang-fueled drive-by playground shooting that hurt a 2-year-old girl in 2018 has pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery and three counts of aggravated endangering a child, Sedgwick County District Court records show.
Wichita police have said the Aug. 15, 2018, shooting was part of an ongoing feud between two street gangs.
The toddler was shot in the foot as she and other children played on a playground between two apartment buildings in the 3800 block of East Ross Parkway, in southeast Wichita’s Planeview neighborhood. She was not the intended target.
Prosecutors say Kerry M. Grant and another man, Tyrin D. Powell, pulled up in a white Impala and fired multiple times at an adult who was standing near the playground. But a bullet hit the girl instead, fracturing her foot.
Grant, 21, pleaded guilty to amended charges on May 2. He will be sentenced June 15 by district Judge David Dahl, according to court records.
Grant also pleaded guilty last week to one count of criminal discharge of a firearm over a Sept. 9, 2019, shooting where prosecutors say he fired at a woman after “previously telling her that he was going to kill her,” court records show. He was free on bond in the playground shooting case when the 2019 shooting happened.
Powell, 22, is serving a 27-month prison sentence over the playground shooting, court records show. He pleaded guilty in February 2021 to two counts of aggravated battery and one count of aggravated endangering a child.
