EUREKA – A Greenwood County man was sentenced today to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to intentional murder in the second degree and child abuse, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Benny William Clark, 23, of Reece, pleaded guilty in March to one count of murder in the second degree-intentional and one count of abuse of a child.

Prosecutors say Greenwood County authorities were called to a hospital last August to investigate a possible child abuse.

Investigators determined injuries suffered by the child, named Cooper, weren’t consistent with the parents’ story of what happened.

The boy’s mother left him with Clark when she went to work. When she returned home, the boy was having trouble breathing.

Cooper died two days later at a Wichita hospital.

Judge Mike Ward Thursday sentenced Clark to 364 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections. The crime occurred in August 2017.

The case was investigated by the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the Wichita Police Department’s Exploited and Missing Child Unit.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City man has been charged in a shooting near a Kansas elementary school that killed one man and left another critically injured.

32-year-old Anthony Grable was charged Thursday with premeditated first-degree murder and seven other counts. His bond was set at $1 million.

The shooting occurred Tuesday morning outside Sunrise Point Elementary School in Overland Park, Kansas. Grable and the two victims were contractors installing new turf on the school’s playground.

Police say 48-year-old Todd Davis, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, died after the shooting. Fifty-four-year-old Efren Gomez remains in critical condition Thursday.

Police are investigating the shooting.

SHAWNEE COUNTY. – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and asking the public for help to locate suspects.

Just before 6:00 a.m. Tuesday, officers were dispatched to a burglary in the 2000 block of SE Hudson Boulevard in Topeka, according to a media release.

A witness saw three younger white males exit the rear of the residence after arriving in a dark colored Dodge Charger with tinted windows.

The suspects stole approximately 80 firearms (rifles, shotguns and handguns) and thousands of rounds of ammunition in the burglary.

We are asking the public to be aware of anyone attempting to sell a large amount of guns and ammunition.

 

 

MOUNDRIDGE, Kan. (AP) — A woman charged in connection with the deaths of three people in McPherson County has pleaded guilty.

Myrta Rangel entered her plea Monday to federal charges for her role in the October 2016 killings of Travis Street, Angela Graevs and Richard Prouty. The charges involved Rangel giving a gun to her boyfriend Jereme Nelson, who’s facing capital murder and first-degree murder charges in the slayings.

Police found the victims dead outside a home where Street and Graevs lived in rural Moundridge. The couple’s toddler was found alive and unharmed in the house.

Nelson, Rangel and her estranged husband in Mexico had arranged to sell methamphetamine to Street, according to Rangel’s plea agreement. The meth shipments would initially go through Nelson before reaching Street, but the drugs eventually bypassed Nelson and went directly to Street.

Rangel gave Nelson a handgun because she knew he was going to Street’s house to collect a drug debt, the agreement said. Nelson drove to Street’s home, where he shot all three victims in the head. Prouty was at the house to buy meth, according to the plea.

The couple was captured in Mexico and turned over to U.S. law enforcement.

Rangel pleaded guilty to transferring a firearm she knew would be used to commit a drug trafficking crime and to giving a firearm to a convicted felon. She’s scheduled for sentencing Sept. 19, the same day Nelson is due in court for a preliminary hearing.

NEOSHO COUNTY— One person died in an accident just after 6a.m. Thursday in Neosho County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Toyota Prius driven by Carla Myers, 56, Parsons, was northbound in the 8700 Block of Queens Road. The vehicle traveled left of center and hit a 1995 Ford pickup driven by Michael Tyler Kichler,17, Walnut, head-on.

Myers was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to First Call.

Kichler was transported to Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center. One passenger in the Ford Jacob Riley Grady, 16, was transported to Labette County Medical Center. Another passenger in the Ford Chandler Jacob Stinson, 18, Parson, refused treatment.

Kichler and Grady were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

SHAWNEE COUNTY— Fire investigators say a fire that destroyed a house near Topeka began when fireworks thrown in the trash reignited.

The Kansas State Fire Marshal’s office says both residents inside the home just south of Topeka city limits escaped the early Thursday fire after being awakened by smoke detectors. Firefighters rescued a dog and cat inside the home.

Firefighters responded to the fire near Lake Sherwood early Thursday.

The fire has been ruled accidental.

Fire investigator Tony Celeste says the fireworks were put in a trash bin near the house after they were shot off Wednesday evening.

He says the blaze damaged two vehicles.

In addition, just after 10:30 p.m., Wednesday fire crews responded to a structure fire located at 3136 SW Arrowhead Road, according to Division Chief, Fire Marshal Michael Martin.

Upon arrival, fire crews found a two story wooden frame residential structure with heavy flames coming from the back side. 

Two occupants of the structures were able to self-evacuate prior firefighter’s arrival. 

A preliminary investigation indicates the fire cause to be accidental, more likely than not associated with fireworks. The estimated dollar loss – $247,920.00; $147,920.00 structural loss and $100,000.00 contents loss, according to Martin. Working smoke detectors were located within the residence.

-The Associated Press contributed to this report.