Jury convicts Wichita woman of murdering young mother who broke up Old Town fight
A Sedgwick County jury has found a Wichita woman guilty of murdering a 19-year-old mother who broke up a fight last spring in a parking lot in the city’s Old Town entertainment district.
La’Niha S. Banks, 19, was convicted of eight criminal counts Friday afternoon in the May 20, 2023, shooting death of La’Tionna Johnson of Wichita. Jurors deliberated for around 2 1/2 hours before finding her guilty of first-degree felony murder, attempted first-degree premeditated murder, two counts of criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle and four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Dan Dillon and court records.
Banks is scheduled for sentencing on April 26 by Sedgwick County District Judge Jeffrey Goering. She faces life in prison for Johnson’s murder plus additional time on the other counts.
Police have said Johnson was shot after breaking up a fight between Banks and a childhood friend as they were getting ready to leave Old Town on May 20. Johnson was with her two younger sisters and two friends. Banks fired multiple gunshots into their vehicle as they were driving away, striking Johnson in the neck and shoulder, police have said.
The shooting happened around 11:10 p.m. at First Street and Washington.
Johnson was a mother of a 6-month-old daughter and a certified nursing assistant who had planned to attend aesthetician school, her family has said. She died at a Wichita hospital five days after the shooting, after undergoing surgery and spending time on life support.
Banks fled from the shooting but later turned herself in to one of the Wichita Police Department’s substations, police have said.
She pleaded not guilty to the charges on Aug. 10, court records show. Her trial started Monday.
