Man shot into crowd after he was turned away from funeral at Wichita church. He’s sentenced
A 20-year-old man has been ordered to serve two years in prison for shooting into a crowd outside of an east Wichita church where he was turned away from a funeral last year.
Demetrius Carter of Wichita must serve the sentence “consecutive to an earlier sentence of 92 months in a case where he rammed a police patrol car,” Sedgwick County District Attorney’s spokesman Dan Dillon said Monday. The back-to-back sentences mean Carter will spend more than nine years in prison.
Carter pleaded guilty in August to two counts of aggravated endangering a child for opening fire outside of New Life Church and Outreach Center, 1156 N. Oliver, around 1:30 p.m. June 16, 2023, after police say he was denied entry into funeral services for a car crash victim because he had a gun and had been disrespectful previously. He had also threatened violence in the weeks leading up to the services, a probable cause affidavit released in the case says.
Some people in the crowd returned Carter’s gunfire, causing chaos and damage to nearby homes and vehicles. A number of children, including infants and toddlers, were at the church when the shooting happened.
Carter was sentenced Monday by Sedgwick County District Judge Eric Williams.
