In the early morning hours of October 5, 2016, 18-year-old Debrylan Eurell Bell, a male student at Wichita's North High School, was fatally shot while sitting in a car in the parking lot of the Woodgate apartment complex on East 21st Street. He had gone to the apartments to meet someone shortly before 4:30 a.m. As he sat in the vehicle, assailants approached and fired between 20 and 30 rounds into the car, striking Bell multiple times.
The investigation into the shooting, which
authorities characterized as a targeted act and not random, led to several arrests. Police stated the killing was connected to a dispute among acquaintances and had gang-related undertones. Though Debrylan Bell's mother contested the assertion that her son was a gang member, police officials indicated that both he and one of the suspects were documented members of rival gangs.
Two primary suspects were charged with first-degree murder: Dennis Saquan McGaugh III, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, and Terasha Diane Presley-Dupree, who was 18. Witnesses reported seeing McGaugh and Presley-Dupree speeding away from the scene in a black SUV after the barrage of gunfire. A GPS monitoring device that McGaugh was required to wear in a separate criminal case also placed him at the apartment complex at the time of the homicide. Court records indicate that at least two different guns were used in the attack.
Ultimately, both McGaugh and Presley-Dupree were convicted for their roles in Debrylan Bell's death. McGaugh pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and criminal discharge of a firearm and was sentenced to 71 months in prison. Presley-Dupree also pleaded guilty to the same charges and received an identical 71-month prison sentence. While the legal proceedings brought convictions, the exact motivation for the dispute that led to the fatal shooting remains unclear. Initially, two other women, Jamasia Dear and Zah'Kavia Qauatia Beans, were also arrested in connection with the case, but they were later released, and no active case proceeded against them.
