Jun 21, 2024

Kan. suspect in deadly BBQ gunfight cut ankle monitor while out on bond

Posted Jun 21, 2024 10:00 PM
GONZALES-GUTIERREZ-photo Sedgwick County
GONZALES-GUTIERREZ-photo Sedgwick County

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Police are asking the public for help to find a Kansas man accused in a deadly gunfight on Father's Day.

The Wichita Police Department are working to locate 33-year-old Eric Gonzalez-Gutierrez, who is wanted for violating his pre-trial restrictions. On Friday, he cut his ankle monitor, according to Wichita Police.

On Sunday, Police arrested Gonzalez-Gutierrez on requested charges including first-degree murder and felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Aron Lara.

Just after 8:30p.m. on Father's Day, police responded to a shooting incident in the 1900 block of N. Jackson Street in Wichita, according to Police spokesman Andrew Ford.

While working to gather further information, the 911 dispatcher could hear gunfire in the background, prompting an immediate upgraded dispatch of officers to the scene.

First responders discovered Lara suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Sedgwick County EMS provided initial critical care at the scene before transporting him to a nearby hospital where he died.

Another victim, a 22-year-old Hispanic man, sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot to the arm and was privately transported to St. Francis Hospital.

The incident occurred during a neighborhood barbecue in observance of Father's Day. According to preliminary reports, Lara, was involved in a verbal altercation with the Gonzales-Gutierrez earlier in the evening.  Gonzales-Gutierrez allegedly returned home, retrieved a rifle, and fired upon the victim, who was unarmed at the time of the shooting.

It is believed that two men accompanying Lara returned fire, resulting in injuries to the second victim.

If you have any information on Gonzalez-Gutierrez whereabouts, please call 911 or WPD Detectives at 316-268-4407. To provide anonymous tips call 316-267-2111 or scan the code above.