Man pleads guilty in mass shooting at Old Town nightclub that wounded nine people

Another of the three men charged in the summer 2023 mass shooting at an Old Town nightclub that wounded nine people has pleaded guilty, court records show.

The shooting happened July 2, 2023, at the now shuttered City Nightz. In addition to the nine shot, two more people were trampled and injured during the ensuing chaos.

One of the shooters was sentenced this summer to roughly 4.5 years in prison; another person charged has a jury trial scheduled to start Sept. 23.

Jaylen C. Thomas had a jury trial scheduled to start Tuesday, but instead the 24-year-old Wichita man entered a plea for two counts of aggravated battery and one of aggravated assault.

He was originally charged with one count of each of those along with attempted first-degree murder and unlawful discharge of a firearm in the city.

Thomas’ sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 1.

Depending on his criminal history, Thomas faces between 38 to 172 months on one of the aggravated battery charges, 31 to 136 on another and 11 to 34 on the aggravated assault.

A judge will decide whether those run concurrently or consecutively.

Police were able to link Thomas to the shooting after video surveillance showed him with one of the people shot. Police searched cases involving the person shot and found that he and Thomas were both tied to a different shooting, according to an arrest affidavit released about the incident.

Police also found photos of Thomas and the man together on social media, the arrest affidavit says.

The man threw a punch that started a fight before Thomas opened fire near the front door, the affidavit says.

Three other people, including a security guard for the rapper Mozzy, who visited the club that night, started shooting as well. The security guard wasn’t charged since he fired in self defense, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett previously said.

Ameir Jayshon King-Ingram, 20, of Wichita was sentenced June 14 to four years and five months in prison after he pleaded guilty on March 28 to one count of aggravated battery and six counts of aggravated assault.

John Deronte Houze, 28, who was on parole at the time of the shooting, has a jury trial set for Sept. 23, according to the affidavit and court records. He is charged with six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of unlawful discharge of a firearm in city limits

Hundreds of people fled the club after the shooting. Some didn’t know they were hit right away. The injuries ranged from minor to critical.

Two security guards were among those injured. One was shot in his lower back, “left cheek and eyebrow area,” forearm and armpit, according to the affidavit. Another security guard, after the shooting, felt something burning on top of his head.

“He took his cowboy hat off and a bullet fell to the ground ... and had a bullet hole in the center of his cowboy hat,” the affidavit says.

The club closed the month after the shooting.

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