Man who pulled gun in smoke shop, was shot multiple times by owner pleads guilty
A 23-year-old Wichita man pleaded guilty last week to one count of aggravated battery in a shootout at a smoke shop at Harry and Broadway last fall.
Rayquwon R. Brazil is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 16 in connection with the shooting that left both him and an owner of M&M Smoke Shop, 328 E. Harry, hospitalized with gunshot wounds. He pleaded guilty to the charge on June 27, court records show.
Brazil faces 38 to 172 months in prison when he is sentenced, although his defense attorney could ask the court to place him on probation, according to his plea agreement.
Court records say Brazil went into the smoke shop around 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 27, 2023, and pointed a gun at the owner, although stories differ about why he was there that night.
The shop owner told police Brazil walked in, demanded “all the money in the register” and then pointed a gun at him to make him comply, according to a probable cause affidavit released by the court.
Brazil, however, said he was upset after catching his girlfriend — a regular customer whom the owner said brought him food — behind the store counter with the owner earlier in the evening and went back to the shop with a gun to confront him. Brazil told police he never demanded cash nor did he intend to rob the store — although he changed into a hoodie before returning to the shop and left his vehicle running at a nearby business before going in, the affidavit says.
Whatever the motive, both men said Brazil was first to draw his gun.
Brazil told police he pulled it out “to show the ... (owner) that he was serious” and because he “wanted to scare him,” the affidavit says.
The smoke shop owner pulled his own gun in response and shot Brazil “somewhere between five and thirteen times” until he “was lying down and no longer a threat,” the affidavit says. The owner told police he didn’t immediately recognize Brazil from the earlier encounter that night.
Brazil shot back — in self defense, he said — and hit the owner in the leg.
When police arrived, they found the injured store owner behind the counter and Brazil on the floor in the retail area with a gun in his hand, “wounded and bleeding heavily,” according to the affidavit.
Both men needed surgery to treat their injuries. Brazil was arrested and booked into the Sedgwick County Jail several days after the shooting, on Oct. 12, after he was released from hospital care.
Brazil was originally charged with aggravated battery and attempted aggravated robbery, but prosecutors dismissed the latter charge in exchange for his guilty plea, his plea agreement says.
