Bretodd Eugene Williams, a 30-year-old Black male, was walking in the 1700 block of Elpyco in Wichita, Kansas, just before noon on May 2, 2018, when his life was abruptly cut short. Another man approached him on the street and, without warning, fired several shots. Williams succumbed to his injuries at the scene, his body left lying in the street. The brazen daylight shooting marked the city's 17th homicide of the year.
The response from law enforcement was swift.
As officers were dispatched to the scene of the shooting, deputies with the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office observed a man behaving suspiciously at a nearby QuikTrip convenience store. They witnessed him enter the store and then exit wearing a different set of clothes. Investigating further, the deputies discovered discarded clothing in the store's bathroom. The man, who matched a description provided by witnesses at the shooting scene, was quickly apprehended by Wichita police officers near a Payless shoe store in the vicinity. A handgun was also recovered in the area. The suspect was identified as 31-year-old Emmanuel E. Reed.
Investigators later revealed that both Bretodd Williams and Emmanuel Reed were known to be documented gang members, though it was not immediately clear if the shooting was directly related to gang activities. An eyewitness reported seeing Reed talking with Williams just moments before hearing what sounded like fireworks. An autopsy would later confirm that Williams had been shot multiple times, with wounds to his cheek, chest, and back.
In the months that followed, the case against Emmanuel E. Reed proceeded through the legal system. In November of that year, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The following month, a Sedgwick County District Judge sentenced Reed to 662 months, or more than 55 years, in prison for the murder of Bretodd Williams, bringing a measure of closure to a violent and public crime.
