‘After the one gunshot, it’s chaos’: Man hit three times recalls Wichita club mass shooting

Isidro said he felt some comfort when people piled on top of him as gunshots rang out at City Nightz in Old Town early on July 2.

Having people on top of him put a barrier between him and the shooters.

“I ducked, tried to run. Running wasn’t an option,” the 27-year-old Wichita area man said.

“It was too many people so all just kind of dog piled into the center of the floor. Couldn’t really see anything, you’re getting covered by other people trying to crawl all over you. All you hear is screaming. I didn’t even hear multiple gunshots when it happened. I just heard the initial first one and then just kind of fear after that — just kind of screaming.”

Nine people, including Isidro, were shot at City Nightz. Another two people were injured when they were trampled in the chaos.

Isidro didn’t realize at first that he had been shot. He felt soreness in his foot but ran from the club and drove off. He stopped when the pain in his foot became too much.

Blood was coming out of his sneaker.

It wasn’t until a friend took him to Ascension Via Christi St. Francis that he found out he had been shot three times: once through the foot, again in the inner thigh and a third time in his lower right side near his hip.

The bullet in his thigh was removed at the hospital. The one near his hip is still there for now.

Isidro asked that his last name not be used to keep his children from worrying. He said he moved his family out of the city last year because of the violence in Wichita.

He and the mother of another shooting victim both said more needs to be done to stop the gun violence.

“We got to stop it,” said Melissa Meyer, whose daughter was critically injured in the shooting. “People are suffering … my family is traumatized.”

An arrest and a suspension

As of 1 p.m. Saturday, police had reported arresting two men; one was released Thursday after Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett determined the man fired in self defense after two other gunmen fired.

Isidro said he was angry to hear about the man being released.

“If it was self defense for yourself, then what do we get to claim?” he asked.

That man was working security for the rapper Mozzy, who went to the club after performing at another. Police said Mozzy and his entourage were not wanded. Other guns got in as well.

City Nightz attorney Charley O’Hara said the club does wand people, but would not say specifically if they wanded Mozzy or his entourage. He also did not address how other guns got in. He said clubs are not required by law to wand anyone and many Wichita clubs don’t.

Isidro said he didn’t feel the security measures were adequate compared with other clubs. No gun should have been in that club, he said.

Bullets were fired from at least four guns, police said, adding that four guns had been found. Police would not say where the guns were found.

Police Chief Joseph Sullivan has suspended the club’s entertainment and liquor license. The 30-day suspension started Saturday. O’Hara says they plan to appeal.

Accounts of shooting at City Nightz

Police were called to the shooting just before 1 a.m. July 2.

Isidro said he rarely goes out to clubs and had never been to City Nightz before the shooting. But he had gone there with a friend that night. They had a couple beers, had gotten a third and were making their way to the patio when the shooting started. He recalls hearing one shot.

“After the one gunshot, it’s chaos,” he said. “I just hear screaming … people pushing, I get pushed to the ground, people are literally crawling all over each other to get out.”

Eventually, enough people got up off of him that he was able to get up and run out of the patio area.

He thinks the adrenaline kept him from knowing he had been shot at first.

He doesn’t know if he will have any long-term effects from being shot. In a follow-up with doctors in a couple of weeks, he expects to find out if doctors will remove the other bullet.

About shootings, he said, “Wichita is getting too complacent with gun violence that once they get a little excuse they kind of brush it off and on to the next one, because it is going to happen again.”

Meyer’s daughter, Tarika Standifer, had been out with friends that night.

The 24-year-old ducked to the floor when the shooting happened, Meyer said, but felt heat throughout her lower back. She knew she had been shot.

The bullet went sideways through her body, causing two breaks in her tailbone, a fracture in her pelvis and other damage. It’s still lodged in her. She’s undergone one surgery and will need another.

She was moved to rehab Friday and is relearning how to walk and stand.

“You want to take it away, you want to make it feel better,” Meyer said. “I am mentally and emotionally drained. And this new reality for her is really hard.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to help with medical expenses and help for the lost income for Standifer and her 2-year-old daughter.

Other shooting victims recovering

Standifer was one of the most critically injured victims.

Police have said the injuries ranged from minor to critical but non-life-threatening.

The family of other victims say their loved ones are doing OK.

One woman said her granddaughter, who was working on Friday, was doing OK after being shot in the hand.

A man said his 29-year-old son is doing fine after being shot in his side and his arm. The bullet in his side went in and out. The man said his son helped carry out his friend, who had been shot four times.

Ameir Jayshon King-Ingram, 19, of Wichita has been arrested on suspicion of two counts of aggravated battery and one count of criminal possession of a firearm by a felon. In a news release Friday night, police said they expect the “efforts of investigators to identify additional shooters soon.”

Meyer shared the release, and added: “If you saw something say something. Bring some justice to ALL of these innocent victims.” She ended the post with “#StopTheGunViolence.”

On Saturday, police said they were also looking for 23-year-old Jaylen Thomas of Wichita in connection with the shooting.

Both Meyer and Isidro said they felt anger and disgust when they saw the surveillance video, obtained by some media, that shows one of the shooters firing in all directions.

“All of them, whoever it was, they all need to be held accountable,” Meyer said. “Because he can still walk around and hide out in town … while my baby is here, essentially for the last week fighting for her life.”

This story was originally published July 8, 2023 at 2:55 PM.