Victim was shot after warning suspect to stay away from teen girl, affidavit shows

A man suspected in the murder of another man at an apartment complex in south Wichita in May had been asked to stay away from the victim’s teenage daughter, according to court documents.

Teyante O. Dagans, 32, is facing murder charges following the May 13 death of Montel Parks. On May 12, according to an unsealed Sedgwick County District Court affidavit, Parks was shot while sitting in the Toyota minivan in a parking lot area at the Emery Garden Apartments, which is southeast of MacArthur and Hydraulic.

The shooting was reported just after 6:30 p.m. on May 12. Parks, 38, died a day later at Ascension Via Christi Hospital St. Francis. Online records show Dagans was charged on May 18 with murder and four other crimes related to the homicide.

According to the affidavit, Parks’ spouse told officers with the Wichita Police Department that a man later identified as Dagans had been speaking to the couple’s 16-year-old daughter at some point on May 12.

Parks, she said, told Dagans to “stop talking” to the teen.

According to the affidavit, police viewed video surveillance footage that showed a man with dreadlocks, thought to be Dagans, talking to Parks as he was getting into his van just before 5 p.m. on May 12.

The video, the affidavit said, showed the man police believe to be Dagans talking to Parks with a “handgun in his right hand.” The man later puts the gun “into the front of his pants” and Parks drives away.

Just after 6:30 p.m. that day, according the police account of the video footage, a man who police say was Dagans walks from behind an area of garages at the complex and over to the minivan, which had just parked.

The man then walks to the driver’s side of the minivan and fires one shot before driving away in a Chevrolet Impala. Police said the suspect used a 9mm handgun. Parks was shot in the neck.

The day of the shooting, Wichita police Chief Joe Sullivan said the victim, later identified as Parks, was “helpless” when he was shot.

“It’s a shame that someone would do that to someone when they’re in a vulnerable position, completely unable to defend themself,” he said.

With the aid of a Flock vehicle license plater reader that was at the apartment complex, police were able to identify the Impala connected to Dagans.

He was located at a Wichita gas station near Central and I-235 the morning of May 13, according to the affidavit. Dagans was arrested after walking out of the store.

When police searched the Impala, which they believe Dagans was living out of, they found a loaded .380 caliber handgun and ammunition.

According to the affidavit, Dagans was sentenced to probation after he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Shawnee County in 2018.

A phone message left for Dagans’ attorney, Patrick Mitchell, was not immediately returned Friday afternoon. A check of the online roster for Sedgwick County Jail inmates on Friday showed that Dagans remained incarcerated at the facility.

Dagans’ bond was set at $1 million on May 18, according to online court records. A motion to modify the bond amount was denied on June 5.