911 scanner traffic reveals what police say led to man being shot by Wichita officer

Wichita police shot a man twice Friday morning as he allegedly tried to flee in a car with a woman he had been assaulting, police spokesperson Rick Pena said.

EMS took the man to the hospital in critical condition.

A cell phone call to 911 was made at 4:21 a.m. but no one responded on the other end.

“Open phone right now, I heard a female crying,” a Sedgwick County Emergency Communications official was heard saying over a 911 scanner by a Wichita Eagle reporter. “Giving very much (domestic violence) vibes, male screaming at the female saying that he was going to hurt her.”

Sedgwick County Emergency Communications was able to identify a more specific location of the call, which was at the 4600 block of W 37th Street South, a dirt road in southwest Wichita near MacArthur and West, according to the scanner.

‘Shots fired, shots fired’

Police arrived at the scene and found a vehicle with front-end damage.

Just 40 seconds after announcing the license plate, an officer is heard on the 911 scanner reporting the shooting.

“Shots fired, shots fired,” a male officer can be heard over the 911 scanner. The shots were not audible on the scanner.

The officer who fired the shots later described to emergency communications what allegedly happened, according to scanner traffic.

“When we pulled up, the female was in the rear passenger seat,” the officer can be heard saying on the scanner. “The windshield was smashed, and he was on top of her. We were giving commands at gunpoint, and he jumped in the front seat and was trying to take off with her still in the vehicle.”

Officers tried to pursue the vehicle but were unable to find it before returning to the scene, according to scanner traffic.

Officers eventually located the car at a business near K-42 and West. They found the man with two gunshot wounds. EMS took him to a hospital.

The woman in the vehicle had minor injuries but refused medical treatment, Pena said.

Any additional details about the shooting will come from the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, per department policy on officer shootings and other critical incidents.