In the early hours of Sunday, October 29, 2023, a Halloween party at the Central Station Bar and Grill in Dodge City, Kansas, turned into a scene of violence that claimed the life of 28-year-old Abraham Morales-Santos. A Hispanic male, Morales-Santos was one of two men who fatally fell victim to a shooting that erupted at approximately 1:12 a.m. inside the establishment located at 207 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd.
The night of festivities took a grim turn when an altercation broke out.
In the ensuing chaos, a gunman opened fire. Antonio A. Cabrera, 29, was the first victim, pronounced dead at the scene. Morales-Santos, along with two other men, sustained gunshot wounds. Emergency services transported the three injured men to a local hospital, where Abraham Morales-Santos was pronounced deceased shortly after arrival. A 40-year-old man was flown to a Wichita hospital with life-threatening injuries, while a 27-year-old man was treated and released.
The suspect was identified as Ricardo J. Cadena-Garcia, a 36-year-old resident of Dodge City. Following the shooting, Cadena-Garcia fled the scene in a white 2011 Dodge Ram pickup truck, prompting a multi-agency response involving the Dodge City Police Department, the Ford County Sheriff's Office, the Kansas Highway Patrol, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
Law enforcement tracked Cadena-Garcia as he fled south into Oklahoma. His flight came to an unexpected halt when his truck sustained a blown front tire. Deputies with the Beaver County Sheriff's Office in Oklahoma located his disabled vehicle about a mile and a half outside of Forgan. They found Cadena-Garcia waiting for assistance from a local tire shop and arrested him without incident. He was subsequently jailed in Beaver County, Oklahoma, on a warrant for capital murder in connection to the deaths of Morales-Santos and Cabrera, as well as attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery.
