Men on probation for chasing, holding teens at gunpoint in Wichita neighborhood
A 48-year-old Wichita man was ordered to serve a year of probation this week for pointing a gun at three teenagers driving through a south-side neighborhood on May 30, 2020. His co-defendant also received probation when he was sentenced for the incident in 2022.
Christopher M. Perry and another man, Michael E. Morris, followed the teens, forced them to stop and demanded to see their identifications at gunpoint, Wichita police have said. The men told officers they followed and approached the boys because they thought they had jumped a fence into Perry’s backyard earlier in the evening.
The teens, however, told police they were on their way to pick up food from a McDonald’s after playing video games during a sleepover when Perry and Morris started chasing them, according to an affidavit released by the court.
The teens — who were 18, 17 and 15 at the time, police have said — told officers Perry and Morris blocked their car with two trucks, pointed guns at them, told them to put their hands up and ordered them to stay still, the affidavit says. The men then questioned the teenagers about who they were and why they were in the neighborhood. They also accused them of theft, according to the affidavit.
The teens told police they didn’t feel like they could leave and were terrified they might be shot.
The incident happened around 2 a.m. in the 3400 block of south All Hallows, near 33rd Street South and West Street.
Perry pleaded guilty on Jan. 19 to two felony counts of aggravated assault and one count of misdemeanor criminal restraint, said Dan Dillon, a spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office. On Thursday, Sedgwick County District Judge David Kaufman ordered Perry to serve a year of probation plus pay $240 in restitution to the parents of two of the teens for therapy costs, Dillon said.
If Perry violates the conditions of his probation, he may have to serve a year in prison.
Morris, 50, of Wichita was sentenced to two years of probation on Aug. 29, 2022, after pleading guilty to three misdemeanor counts of endangerment and three misdemeanor counts of assault. His probation carries an underlying prison term of two years, Dillon said.
