SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and asking for help to locate  suspect.

Just after 11:45 p.m. Friday, police responded to a shooting call at the Sugar Creek Apartments located in the 2500 Block of south Oliver in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Upon arrival officers located a 36-year-old man who had multiple gunshot wounds. The male succumbed to his injuries on scene.

Through the investigation it was determined the victim arrived at the apartments with his 35-year-old girlfriend to meet with an individual. After arriving on scene a disturbance ensued between the victim and

an unknown suspect and multiple shots were fired by the suspect which struck the victim.

The suspect is described as an unknown black male, approximately 5-foot-7. The investigation is ongoing.

If anyone has any additional information please call Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111 or WPD Detectives at 316-268-4407. This was not a random incident, and is the eleventh homicide in Wichita for 2018, according to Davidson.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A wrongful death lawsuit over an Oklahoma man’s 2013 trampling death at a southern Kansas cattle processing facility has been reinstated.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling Thursday. The appeals court found that a federal judge overlooked the significance of how fencing and pens were configured in ruling that Creekstone Farms Premium Beef was not liable in the death of 57-year-old Richard Gates, of Blackwell, Oklahoma.

The appellate court found the pen set-up created what the court called a “blind alley” that caused a cow to turn and run at Gates, who was a truck driver. He had just delivered a load of cattle to the Arkansas City, Kansas, facility when he was knocked down and injured.

By ROXANA HEGEMAN

SYRACUSE, Kan. (AP) — Immigrants working on a remote Kansas ranch toil long days in a type of servitude to work off loans from the company for the cost of smuggling them into the country, according to five people who worked there.

There are no holidays, health insurance benefits or overtime pay at Fullmer Cattle Co., which raises calves for dairies in four states. The immigrants must buy their own safety gear such as goggles.

One worker spent eight months cleaning out calf pens, laying down cement and doing other construction work. Esteban Cornejo, a Mexican citizen who is in the U.S. illegally, left Kansas in November after paying off debt, which he figures was nearly $7,000.

The pay stub Cornejo shared with The Associated Press shows he worked 182.5 hours at $10 an hour over two weeks — an average of 15 hours a day with Sundays off. His pay was $1,828.34 before taxes. Also deducted was a $1,300 “cash advance repayment” that he said was a company loan for bringing him into the country.

His take-home pay was $207.46, the pay stub shows, or just over $1 an hour working at Fullmer Auto Co. Texas LLC, which does business as Fullmer Cattle.

“It is like slavery what they do to those poor people,” said Rachel Tovar, another former worker who spoke to The Associated Press.

Tovar said she was interviewed recently by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, who asked about the company’s Kansas employment practices, but ICE declined to say if it is investigating.

Dean Ryan, the company’s attorney, said in an email that the allegations “are simply not true.”

“There was no smuggler’s fee and has never been,” Ryan wrote, adding that there are “plenty of people willing to work in western Kansas without having to ‘import’ them.”

Ryan said company policy is to give pay advances to workers who have no credit. He said those loans are made so employees can purchase a vehicle or put a down payment on a home.

President Donald Trump’s administration has cracked down on immigrants living in the country illegally. But it has said less about the companies that employ them, let alone a company accused of using smugglers to bring workers to the United States.

The plight of the Kansas workers also highlights the exploitation that immigrants face when a company forces them to pay off debt with work, a practice called “debt peonage.”

Under federal law, employers do not have to pay overtime to agricultural workers. Erik Nicholson, national vice president for the United Farm Workers union, said it is not unusual for employers to recruit immigrant farmworkers. Some employers use kickback schemes, although deducting from paychecks is “pretty brazen.”

Arturo Tovar is Rachel’s husband and a Mexican citizen who lived illegally in the U.S. and was a Fullmer manager for 11 years. He said the smuggling process worked like this: When the company needed workers, Arturo asked employees if they knew someone who wanted to work in the United States. The company gave him the phone number of the “coyote,” or smuggler, in Piedras Niegras, Mexico, to make the arrangements.

The company would give Arturo Tovar a check, which he would cash. A partial payment was made to the smuggler upfront and the rest when the immigrant reached San Antonio or Houston, where the immigrant would be picked up. If law enforcement asked questions about the cash, the employee was instructed to say it was for used cars the company bought at Texas auctions.

Rachel Tovar, a U.S.-born citizen, said that once the loan to bring an immigrant into the country was almost paid, the company often sold used vehicles to employees in what she believes was an effort to keep them in debt.

Arturo Tovar voluntarily left the country in lieu of deportation after pleading guilty last year to misdemeanor theft stemming from what the couple says was a false company accusation after he was hurt on the job. The company contends the Tovars have an agenda and lack credibility.

But another former employee told AP that Fullmer also loaned him money for the coyote to smuggle someone. AP is not naming the ex-worker out of concern for that person’s safety.

A fifth ex-worker confirmed the general accounts of those who allowed their names to be used but asked for anonymity because that person also has safety concerns.

Fullmer Cattle’s calf-feeding operation is outside of Syracuse, a farming community of 1,800 about 16 miles from the Colorado border. Former workers say some employees live in company-owned trailers at the ranch or a nearby property, for which the company deducts rent.

The company says it raises tens of thousands of Holstein calves for 18 dairies from Texas, Kansas, Colorado and South Dakota. Newborn calves are taken away from milk cows and sent to Fullmer to be bottle-raised and weaned. The heifers are sent back as milk cow replacements, while the bulls are sent to feedlots to be fattened for slaughter. Among the benefits Fullmer Cattle touts to customers on its website is “lower labor costs.”

The Kansas ranch offered owner Que Fullmer a fresh start following a 1998 immigration raid at his Chino, California, ranch where authorities found workers in what a California labor official described as “economic slavery.” The Kansas ranch also offered Fullmer a chance to rebuild after bankruptcies cost him the bulk of his operations in Muleshoe, Texas.

Fullmer pleaded guilty in 1999 in California federal court to a felony count of harboring and concealing immigrants in the country illegally. He was sentenced to six months of home detention, a $10,000 fine and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service, court records show.

In December, he was charged with illegally casting election ballots in both Colorado and Kansas in 2016. The registered Republican is accused of voting more than once and other violations. The case is pending in Kansas.

As a result of Fullmer’s past immigration-related conviction, the lawyer for the company said in an email that it takes “extra care” not to hire workers who are in the country illegally.

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GEARY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an attempted murder and searching for three suspects.

Earlier, Police identified Jeremy Garza as a suspect. He has been questioned and is no longer considered a suspect in the case. Police did release a photograph of an unidentified suspect.

Just before 11:30 p.m. Thursday, police responded to report of a gunshot at a motel in the 1900 Block of Lacy Drive in Junction City, according to a media release.

Police found Trenton Penn, 19, Minneapolis, Kansas with a gunshot wound. He was flown to a Topeka hospital for treatment.

An investigation revealed the shooting occurred during a fight at the motel room, according to the release.

Police arrested 19-year-old Morgan Fabre of Manhattan on requested charges of conspiracy to commit pre-meditated first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated battery, aggravated assault and criminal threat. She is being held without bond.

Police are searching for three suspects who should be considered armed and dangerous. Cody Breeden, 24; Jeremy Breeden, 28; and and the unidentified suspect are all from Abilene, according to police.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Junction City Police or a web tip at GearyCrimeStoppers.com

EMPORIA — An Emporia State University professor has been placed on administrative leave after a campus newspaper reported about the findings of a sexual harassment investigation.

University President Allison Garrett sent an email Wednesday to students, faculty and staff, saying that psychology professor Dr. Brian Schrader  was the subject of an investigation following a case of “significant community interest.” The letter provided no details.

The student newspaper, The Bulletin, reported in February that a student reported that the professor tried to kiss her in May 2017 after taking her into a private room.

The student provided the paper more than 150 pages of correspondence with administrative officials and official documents. The final summary of the investigation said there was a “preponderance of evidence” that the professor violated the university’s sexual conduct policy.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say two loaded guns have been found at security screening checkpoints at the Wichita airport this week.

The Transportation Security Administration reported that a .38 caliber handgun loaded with five rounds was found on Sunday, and a 9mm handgun loaded with six rounds was found on Thursday.

A TSA news release says Wichita Airport Police took possession of the weapons and interviewed the individuals after they tried to go through security with the guns at Wichita Eisenhower National Airport.

Officials say seven guns have been found by TSA agents at the airport so far in 2018. That compares with four guns found in all of 2017.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a drug related shooting that sent a man to the hospital.

Just after 2a.m. Wednesday, police responded to a home in the 1900 Block of East Maywood Street in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Officers found a 33-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his upper torso, according to Davidson. He was transported for treatment of serious injuries.

Officers learned that the man and his girlfriend were inside the residence when an unknown suspect knocked on the door and then fired a gunshot through the door.

Through the investigation, officers found a mushroom grow operation inside the residence, according to Davidson.  Detectives and Haz-Mat crews processed the scene. Police determined the shooting was not random and believed to be drug related.

Officers have not reported an arrest.