Wichita police chief seeks more money for overtime after spate of weekend shootings
Wichita’s interim police chief said Tuesday he plans to seek an increase in his overtime budget to put more officers on the street after the department responded to eight shootings over the holiday weekend.
Three people died Saturday night — two in shootings and one in a hit-and-run accident.
“The amount of officers we have on the street cannot withstand that type of violence and incidents in the city without affecting response times and affecting other calls,” interim chief Lem Moore said at a news conference. He did not provide details on the request for more money.
One of the shootings and the hit-and-run were connected to a high school graduation party at Touch of Class Banquet Hall, 3115 E. 25th St. N.
Boisy Barefield, 17, was shot after an argument broke out at the venue. Jaxson Hunt, 15, was struck by a car in the intersection of 25th Street North and Estelle while she was leaving the venue. Samara Rockmore, 18, of Wichita has been arrested on suspicion of felony hit and run, police said.
Emmanuel Hardy, 30, died after an argument broke out between two men outside an apartment complex in the 4900 block of East Harry. Police arrested Roger Gale, 27, of Wichita on suspicion of first-degree murder and aggravated assault.
Several pastors appeared with Moore outside the event venue Tuesday afternoon.
The Rev. Roosevelt DeShazer, pastor of the Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in Wichita, said he had known Hunt, who was a member of his church, since she was a little girl.
“I got a call Sunday morning a little before 3 a.m. A call that most of us pastors are mostly prepared for. The voice on the other end was crying her eyes out and said ‘Pastor, I think I’m about to lose my daughter.’ ... I went up to Wesley and saw little Jaxson, 15 years old. I could remember when she was 8 years old. She was laying there lifeless,” DeShazer said.
DeShazer says Jaxson was a 4.0 student at West High with a “great future ahead of her.”
“She was two houses away from her home. Right in the front of my church, and now she’s gone,” DeShazer says.
Wichita police Capt. Jason Stephens said the department is looking for a person of interest involved in the shooting at the banquet hall.
Rev. Carl Kirkendoll, the president of the Greater Wichita Ministerial League, urged anyone with information on what led up to the shooting to contact police.
“These senseless crimes have to be solved. It makes no sense for the young man who was 17 that died here for this crime to go unsolved because there are three families that are suffering,” Kirkendoll said.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 316-519-2282 or the See Something, Say Something hotline at 316-519-2282.
Here are the other shootings reported in Wichita from Friday through Sunday.
▪ 11:30 p.m. Friday: Gunfire reported in the 2800 block of South Dunkin Street. No victims or suspects found.
▪ 8 p.m. Sunday: 23-year-old man shot multiple times around the area of Ninth and Grove. No arrests made.
▪ 8:30 p.m. Sunday: Someone shot at a woman’s car windshield at a QuikTrip at Harry and Oliver. No reported injuries.
▪ 9:30 p.m. Sunday: Shots reported fired at a home in the 2300 block of West Pawnee. Five people were in the home, but no one was injured. No arrests made.
▪ 9:30 p.m. Sunday: 27-year-old man shot several times in the 900 block of North Volutsia. No arrests made.
▪ 10:54 p.m. Sunday: Shots reported in the 500 block of Dellrose. No injuries or arrests made.
This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 7:38 PM.