Teen shot by Wichita police officer last month charged with weapons violation

The 17-year-old West High student shot by a Wichita police officer last month was charged with a misdemeanor weapons violation in juvenile court Thursday morning, authorities said.

Police have said the teen was armed and running toward the police officer who fired at him outside the school on the night of Dec. 4.

That evening, police officers were conducting follow-up work related to a double homicide earlier in the week in which three “specific individuals” were implicated. Police received “reliable information” that the suspects could be found at one of two locations.

Two of the suspects had been arrested earlier on Dec. 4 – one at one of the locations about which police had received information. Police went to the second suspected location and saw a burgundy 1997 Ford F-150 leaving with four men inside. Police thought the truck contained a suspect.

Officers followed the truck to West High School’s east entrance, where they attempted a traffic stop near the school’s tennis courts. The 17-year-old got out of the truck and began to run west, holding a Smith and Wesson handgun, according to police.

The other three occupants remained inside the truck. Police do not know why the teen ran.

Other officers had pulled into an entrance farther west. Police officials say the teen ignored multiple verbal commands by officers to drop the handgun.

According to the account provided by police officials, one of the officers who had arrived from the west fired “several rounds,” striking the teen at least once in his side/back area and once in his right wrist, hitting the handgun.

Police have said the teen was about 26 feet from the doors of the school and 10 feet from the building when the gun was dropped shortly after he was shot.

The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office has not yet issued a ruling on whether the shooting was justified.

The teen, who is no longer in custody, is scheduled for a pre-trial conference on Feb. 17, according to a spokesman with the district attorney’s office. Penalties for the charged offense range from probation to 28 days in juvenile detention.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 2:53 PM with the headline "Teen shot by Wichita police officer last month charged with weapons violation."