Wichita police and city leaders plead to community amid gang-related uptick in crime
A March gang-related killing of a 14-year-old boy at a crowded Towne East mall has ties to two other homicides and contributed to an uptick in violent crime in December, Wichita police said during a news conference Friday.
The news conference included several police officials, City Council members, pastors and others who work with youth. It was a plea — one the police department has done before — amid a December that has seen multiple gang-related shootings.
One of the big concerns was how social media has stoked gang feuds.
Screenshots and videos police showed during the news conference showed young gang members pointing guns at a rival gang’s street signs and pretending to fire them as an act of disrespect. Another screenshot shows two gang members standing on a sign with the text “Like 4 of yo homies is dead.”
City Council member Brandon Johnson said stopping the violence is going to take the community and parents being more involved.
“Unless we ask those questions about what they’re doing, where they’re going, what do they have with them, we’re going to continue to see this problem,” he said. “I am tired of these press conferences. We have to get involved as a community and really look out for our young people. They’re crying out in the schools saying they don’t feel safe. They’re crying out in the streets saying they don’t feel safe. We have to do more than we are doing right now. And that means getting involved.”
Lt. Chad Beard, who oversees the gang unit, said police have identified between 100 and 150 people involved in the feuds. Beard said police are monitoring social media and conducting targeted police work, including seeing if the people in the social media posts are on parole or probation — and if so, are doing anything that violates the terms of their supervision.
“This is not some dragnet that we’re going to start arresting and stopping vehicles everywhere,” he said. “This is a very targeted approach to this violence.”
There are four main feuds right now at play, deputy chief Jose Salcido said, but the main one stems from the mall shooting.
Feuds include fights that start over a girl, drugs and derision on social media.
“Sometimes it’s so insignificant but it has real-life consequences for our community,” Salcido said.
Shootings in December
There have been several gang-related incidents in December, police said.
Dec. 10: Drive-by at Oliver and Kensington that involved two people in a gunfight
Dec. 11: Drive-by in the 2600 block of North Green
Dec. 16: Drive-by in the 4200 block of Delrose that left an 18-year-old man in “very grave condition” after being shot in the head, according to police chief Joseph Sullivan
Dec. 16: A drive-by at home in the 1300 block of East Kemper where the shooter of the Delrose shooting lives and where he was arrested
Dec. 25: Three males parked in the 500 block of North Rock were attacked. It was also part of a retaliation for the Delrose shooting, Sullivan said.
Dec. 28: A house with “four juveniles with gang affiliations” was shot at least seven times in the 4900 block of Kensington, Sullivan said, adding that the shooting was live-streamed on the Internet
Salcido said the shootings on Delrose and North Green could be tied back to the March killing. Homicides in August in Old town and September in the 5000 block of East Osie also have ties back to the March killing, he said.
Sullivan mentioned other violence in December that is not believed to be gang-related:
Dec. 23: Four people were shot — two fatally — at an apartment in the 900 block of South Mission over a debt of around $50, Sullivan said. Some of the people involved have gang ties, he said, but it’s believed the shooting was over money.
Dec. 24: A couple with Christmas presents in their vehicle was carjacked by four juveniles at their apartment building in the 7800 block of East Douglas. The suspects all had masks and two had guns. Three of them were arrested after a police pursuit, Sullivan said, adding a gun was found on a 13-year-old.
Dec. 27: Two people were shot over an argument, including a 16-year-old girl shot 13 times, Sullivan said. A suspect is in custody.
Police data presented at the news conference show a huge drop in year-over-year shootings. There have been 112 so far this year with 22 fatalities. At this time last year, there were 205 shootings and 33 fatalities, the data shows. The shootings and killing so far this year are also lower than in any year of the given data that goes back to 2017.
The year-to-date data on the demographics of victims go back to 2020. In each of those three years, the largest age group of victims — with over 40% each year — was between 25 to 45 (in second this year, with 22%, is between 20 to 24), males accounted for over 80% of victims each year and more than 50% of the victims each year were Black. Census data shows that people who are Black account for around 10% of Wichita’s population.
Reaching out
Among the nine community members at the news conference was pastor Albert Paredes of Praise Chapel near Harry and Woodlawn. Paredes, a former south California gang member who spent time in prison, is overseeing the funeral of Jose Alvarez on Saturday. Alvarez was one of the people killed on Dec. 23.
Paredes said his church is hosting an event with food and games from 9 p.m. until midnight Saturday to try and give people an alternative to making a bad choice. He pleaded for people to take a break from the shootings this holiday season and embrace their families.
“Maybe we’ll save another shooter from going to prison,” he said. “Maybe we’ll save another mom from burying another Hispanic son. Maybe we’ll save the 2-year-old girl where that stray bullet’s going to go past whoever it intended to shoot, save that family from burying their little girl.”
Police chief Sullivan added: “To the young people out there that might be tempted to pick up a gun this weekend, understand something. We want you alive, we want you free, we want you safe, but if you pick up a gun and attempt to harm someone we will hold you accountable.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2022 at 4:04 PM.