In the early hours of August 13, 2018, a night out in Wichita, Kansas, turned tragic for 24-year-old Austen James Wright, a Black/African American male. An altercation that began inside Vixen's Erotic Sports Bar on West Harry Street spilled out into the parking lot, escalating into a fatal confrontation. Just before 2 a.m., police were dispatched to the scene following reports of a shooting. They discovered Wright in the back parking lot, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
He was rushed to a local hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation into the shooting painted a grim picture of the events that transpired. A verbal argument in the parking lot had allegedly led to a physical confrontation between Wright and a group of three to four men. During this dispute, one of the individuals in the opposing group reportedly drew a handgun and fired multiple shots at Wright, ending his life. The incident marked the 33rd homicide in Wichita that year and was the second fatal shooting in the vicinity of the same nightclub that summer.
Within days, the Wichita Police Department made two arrests in connection with the killing. On August 13, 2018, the same day as the shooting, 25-year-old Hernan Quezada was taken into custody at his home. He was subsequently charged with felony murder and criminal possession of a firearm by a felon. Two days later, on August 15, a second suspect, 26-year-old Mario D. Sandoval Jr., was arrested and booked on suspicion of first-degree murder. Court records indicated that Quezada had a prior conviction for assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering.
The legal process for one of the accused moved forward, with the trial for Mario D. Sandoval Jr. scheduled to commence on August 30, 2021, a little over three years after Wright's death. However, the outcomes of the legal proceedings for both Sandoval and Quezada, including any convictions or sentencing, have not been detailed in publicly available online sources.
