Four injured in drive-by shooting outside a southeast Wichita house party
Four people have been hospitalized in critical condition after a drive-by shooting at a house party in southeast Wichita.
Andrew Ford, chief information officer with the Wichita Police Department, said the shooting was reported just after 11:30 p.m. on Saturday night at a home in the 8800 block of East Denker, which is east of Rock Road between Pawnee and 31st Street South. When police arrived they found “a chaotic scene involving a large social gathering,” a department press release said, and two men with gunshot wounds. The men, a 20-year-old and a 21-year-old, were taken to a hospital and are in critical condition, Ford said.
Two other people who had been injured in the same shooting also checked in to a local hospital for treatment, he said. Both, a 20-year-old woman and an 18-year-old man, are also in critical condition.
Police have not taken any suspects into custody, Police Chief Joe Sullivan said, and are continuing to investigate “this very cowardice act of just shooting people, unarmed, in front of a house.”
Sullivan said police will also look into how the party came about; he said activity on social media “may have fueled some of this.”
“When officers arrived, there was over 100 people here, teenagers and young adults. That’s just not acceptable,” Sullivan said. “Whatever the motive for this was, I can assure you that it’s probably incredibly stupid considering the fact that we have some terribly injured people here.”
Several local high schools and colleges celebrated graduation over the weekend. Sullivan said it’s increasingly important that Wichitans “know where your young people are.”
“You don’t want them at a party like this,” Sullivan said. “Unfortunately, parties like this seem to be a draw for violence . . . but we have to work together, both police and the community, parents, everyone.”
This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 11:03 AM.
