After gunfire at Wichita funeral, teen who was injured is arrested; other suspects sought
Updated:
Police sent out a news release Friday evening saying that the one person who has been shot, an 18-year-old Wichita man, has also been arrested.
Police initially said two females were shot: one in the arm and another grazed in the leg.
The man who was shot in the right forearm was seen by medical personnel and bandaged before being taken to police offices to be questioned, officer Juan Rebolledo said. The news release said he was “provided life-saving measures” and had serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Police said the shooting happened after several people arrived at the parking lot of the New Life Church and Outreach Center and confronted a large group of people right outside the main door.
“After a brief verbal altercation between both groups, an unknown number of people from both groups started to shoot at each other,” Rebolledo said in the news release.
Several vehicles and homes were hit with gunfire, he said, and several guns were recovered from the scene.
Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call detectives at 316-268-4407, the See Something Say Something hotline at 316-519-2282 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111. Callers can remain anonymous with Crime Stoppers.
Earlier version:
Howard Bryant was outside a Wichita church, holding his granddaughter and ready to go into a funeral, when a car pulled up and about six people jumped out and started shooting Friday.
Then “all hell broke loose” outside New Life Church and Outreach Center, he said.
He put his granddaughter inside and told people to get down as people in the parking lot “started retaliating” to the shooting.
“Everybody is just shooting and ducking,” he said, estimating 25 to 30 shots were fired. “It’s a wonder a lot of people didn’t get hit.”
A large crowd of people was outside when the shooting broke out, police said.
One person was shot in the arm and suffered “relatively minor injuries, luckily,” Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said during a media briefing Friday evening. Another person suffered a leg injury after falling. A third person suffered an epileptic seizure.
No one was in custody early Friday evening, police said.
Police responded to the shooting at the church at 1156 N. Oliver around 1:32 p.m.
“It was a chaotic scene when officers arrived there,” police spokesperson Juan Rebolledo said. “There are a lot of (bullet) casings on scene.”
At least three guns were involved and two have been recovered, Sullivan said. Police are still working to find out how many shots were fired.
The funeral was for 19-year-old Johnathan D. McPherson-Pickett, who died last month in a two-vehicle accident that injured eight people near downtown. Bryant said he was a friend of McPherson-Pickett, who he called his “little son.”
Bryant said he was concerned for his life when the shooting started.
“The violence has got to stop,” he said. “These shootings, these bangers, it’s got to stop … they don’t know what they fighting about. They don’t have no clue what they are fighting about. Cause you don’t like me, I don’t like you. It needs to stop.”
Pastor Fred Hayes Jr. wasn’t officiating the funeral but said the group was using their facilities.
He said someone shouldn’t feel in danger at a funeral.
“My concern is not only that it happens at a funeral, but that it happens at all in our community,” he said. “It’s just crazy.”
Contributing: Eduardo Castillo with The Eagle
This story was originally published June 16, 2023 at 4:00 PM.