Montel Demond Parks, a 38-year-old Black man from Wichita known to family and friends as Tail, was shot while seated in his Toyota minivan at the Emery Gardens Apartments on May 12, 2026. The attack occurred shortly after 6:30 p.m. at 4244 South Hydraulic Avenue; officers found Parks behind the wheel with a serious gunshot wound and EMS transported him to Ascension Via Christi Hospital St. Francis. He died of his injuries the next morning, May 13, 2026.

Investigators treated the shooting as deliberate and not random. Surveillance footage and witness interviews led police to focus on a man identified as Teyante O. Dagans after an earlier confrontation between Parks and Dagans involving Parks’ 16-year-old daughter. Video reportedly showed a man with dreadlocks speaking with Parks around 5 p.m., later placing a handgun in his pants, and then approaching Parks’ vehicle about 90 minutes later and firing a single shot.

Police used license plate recognition to trace a Chevrolet Impala linked to the suspect and arrested Dagans at a QuikTrip the morning of May 13. Officers recovered a loaded .380-caliber handgun in the Impala, though investigators reported the murder weapon was believed to be a 9mm. Dagans was charged on May 18 and held on $1 million bond; he remained in custody as of early June.

If anyone knew Montel Parks, his movements that day, or saw a Chevrolet Impala near Emery Gardens on May 12, please share what you know with investigators.