WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Wichita police say they had the man who they now allege was the Onyx nightclub shooter in custody for an unrelated case shortly after the shooting. By the time they realized he was the person they were looking for, he was already out of jail.
The shooting happened around 12:30 a.m. Sunday at Onyx in the 10000 block of E. Kellogg Drive and left one person dead and two injured.
Less than 30 minutes after the shooting, other police officers were sent to a domestic violence situation in the 1700 block of N. Pinecrest. They arrested a man for alleged misdemeanor criminal damage to property.
The WPD said it had no reason to believe the suspect in both cases was the same person.
"There was no information at that time that he was involved in the shooting at Onyx," Lt. Aaron Moses, WPD, said.
It was not until about noon Sunday that homicide investigators identified the alleged Onyx shooting suspect as 33-year-old Terrence J. Johnson. They found out he had been in custody for the alleged domestic violence incident but had already been released from jail.
They are now looking for him again. KSN News does not typically release suspects' names until they are charged with a crime. We are making an exception in this case because the WPD is asking for help to find Johnson, and they consider him armed and dangerous.
"This violence towards his own family indicates that he is a danger to the public," Moses said.
Officers were monitoring the Onyx nightclub from outside when they heard multiple gunshots around 12:30 a.m. Sunday. They found 23-year-old Jaylon Pete of Wichita in the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds. He died at a hospital.
A 26-year-old Wichita man and a 24-year-old Wichita man were also shot. Both were taken to the hospital with serious injuries, but police say the injuries are not life-threatening.
"Our review of the evidence indicates that the suspect in this case was involved in a disturbance inside the club and subsequently retrieved a firearm outside," Moses said. "The suspect attempted to reenter the club but was unable to do so due to safety measures implemented by the club's management."
The suspect did not try to reenter through the Onyx main entrance. Police said he tried to reenter through the doors where he had been thrown out - the west doors.
"He's banging on the doors. He's trying to get back in, and they don't allow it to happen," Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said. "He then interacts with our victim, and at some point, for reasons that are unclear to anyone, decides to shoot our victim and then begins to shoot in a reckless manner."
A reporter asked if the suspect was waiting outside for Jaylon Pete and the other two victims.
"It's not 100% clear," the police chief said. "It happens very quickly, and we're not quite sure why, and it would appear he's shooting randomly after that, and that's where our other two victims become injured, and that's really, it was very disturbing to us."
Sullivan said police do not believe the victims were part of the original disturbance inside the club but that it is part of the ongoing investigation.
"I will definitely say in terms of Club Onyx ... I have no doubt that the actions that they took to carefully wand everyone entering the club and making sure that once people were ejected from the club, they could not reenter the club, I have no doubt, prevented a more serious incident than what did occur," Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said.
If you know where Johnson is or have additional information, photos or videos from the incident, you're asked to contact police, the See Something Say Something hotline at 316-519-2282, or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.
