No. 3: GCHS wrestler shot, killed
12/29/2011
Laurie Sisk/Telegram
Garden City High School wrestler Braxston Medina leaves the mat after a match during the state wrestling tournament last year in Wichita. Medina was shot and killed in September in Garden City.CORRECTION: The original version of this article had the incorrect date of the incident. Medina was shot Sept. 6, 2011.
Editor's Note:This is the eighth in a series of 10 stories counting down The Telegram's top 10 stories of 2011 as chosen by The Telegram staff.
By JOSEPH JACKMOVICH
jjackmovich@gctelegram.com
No arrests have been made in the three months following a shooting that took the life of a Garden City High School senior, but a decision may be announced in the coming weeks.
According to the Finney County Sheriff's Office, at approximately 9:30 a.m. Sep. 6, 2011, 18-year-old Braxston Medina entered a residence at 1625 T-Bone Drive to retrieve some personal property from a fellow GCHS student. Medina broke in through a locked door to enter, though initial reports from the sheriff's office said he entered through an unlocked entrance.
When the 17-year-old resident of the home saw him entering, he fired a single 12-gauge shotgun round into Medina's chest. Two GCHS students who had accompanied Medina but did not enter, Antonio Rubio, 18, and an unnamed 17-year-old male, drove Medina to St. Catherine Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 10 a.m.
Undersheriff John Andrews said at the time that the property Medina was retrieving had been loaned to the occupant of the residence. He also said that the shooter and Medina had been acquaintances but had been in a fight prior to the shooting.
The sheriff's office had investigated the shooting as a homicide.
Finney County Attorney John Wheeler said that his office had received the case from the sheriff's office in the first week of October. He said at the time that there were "a few items left undone" and that he could not conclude the review until all of the results from the investigative testing were completed. He said he expected to have the case review completed by late October or early November.
Last week, Wheeler said that he scheduled some meetings that had to be completed before his office could announce a decision. Wheeler said that the meetings would be held after the first of the year, after which he would be able to reveal whether charges would be filed. He made no comment whether a decision already had been reached.
"We are working to fulfill certain obligations before I can release or announce a decision," Wheeler said.
The incident potentially may brush with a Kansas law called the Stand and Defend Law, which grants some protection to residents who use deadly force to protect their home from intruders, based on certain criteria. For example, an intruder must make an attempt to illegally or forcibly enter a home and the resident must have a reasonable belief that the intruder will do them harm.
The shooter in the incident has not been named because there were no arrests.
Medina was a three-time state qualifier for the GCHS wrestling team and finished fourth at the Class 6A state tournament at 135 pounds for the 2010-11 season. He was a member of The Telegram's All-Area Wrestling team in 2011.