Man sentenced for fatal nightclub shooting in east Wichita

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The man who pleaded guilty to the shooting at the Onyx nightclub in Wichita in October 2023 was sentenced by a judge last Friday.

Terrence Johnson , 33, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder on July 29. Tuesday, he was sentenced to 427 months in prison, which is 35 years and seven months.

The shooting happened around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in the 10000 block of E. Kellogg Drive. Officers were monitoring the nightclub outside when they heard gunshots. They found Jaylon Pete, 23, in the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds.

Pete was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

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 said at the time the injuries were not life-threatening.

The WPD said Johnson was involved in a disturbance inside Onyx. He went outside to get a gun and tried to go back inside but was unable to because of safety measures implemented by the club’s management.

“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 at the time.

That’s when he started shooting outside of the club and where Pete was shot.

The WPD also said around 30 minutes after the shooting, Johnson was involved in a domestic violence situation in the 1700 block of N. Pinecrest. He was arrested for alleged misdemeanor criminal damage to property.

When they arrested Johnson for that, WPD said it had no reason to believe he was the person who fired the shots outside the nightclub. He was identified as the suspect around noon that Sunday, but by then, he had already been released from jail.

WPD asked the public to be on the lookout for Johnson and warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous. He was taken into custody without incident not long after.

Johnson has previously been convicted and imprisoned for aggravated robbery, criminal damage to property, two DUIs, and criminal possession of a weapon.

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