Wichita teen shot and killed another teen. He has received the maximum sentence
A Wichita teenager has received the maximum sentence available in juvenile court for the shooting death of another teen earlier this year in a residential neighborhood near Douglas and Greenwich, the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office said Friday.
The teenage boy was 14 when he fatally shot 17-year-old Julio Ruiz of Wichita on Feb. 2 in the 100 block of North Zelta. He is 15 now.
The Eagle generally does not name juveniles accused or convicted in criminal matters unless they are charged in adult court.
The teen was sentenced Thursday by Sedgwick County District Judge Patrick Walters, a news release from the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office says. He will serve time at the state’s juvenile correctional facility until he is 22 1/2 years old and then receive supervision and other services through an aftercare program until he is 23, the release says.
He pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder on Sept. 18. Exactly what motivated the shooting is unclear, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said by email.
The teen and Julio Ruiz were among a group of five boys “who talked about shooting a bullet into the ground” before Ruiz was fatally wounded, the release says. Both had guns that day; the release says Ruiz had “carried a 9mm pistol in a holster in his waistband” while the other teen “had a pistol in the front pocket of his hoodie.”
According to the DA’s news release, “Ruiz fired once into the ground” and the younger teen followed, firing three or four shots. “Witnesses say as ... (the younger teen) fired his gun, it swept toward Ruiz and bullets struck” him, the release says.
Ruiz started to run away but collapsed and died. The shooting was reported to authorities at 8:47 p.m. Feb. 2.
The DA’s Office said when authorities later tested the functionality of the younger teen’s gun, it fired like normal and they found “nothing that would have caused it to recoil.”
