A New Year’s Day celebration in Wichita, Kansas, turned deadly on January 1, 2021. Twenty-six-year-old Nicholas Sims, a Black man, was shot in the front yard of a home in the 2600 block of North Bullinger after an argument inside the house between Sims and another man, Deajuan Calvin Smith, reportedly over Smith’s alleged mistreatment of a female guest. The party had at least 50 people in attendance and the dispute spilled outside as people were leaving around 4 a.m. Sims was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Wichita Police Department identified a suspect and arrested 22-year-old Deajuan Calvin Smith on February 17, 2021, charging him initially with first-degree murder. The case later moved through the courts; under a plea agreement Smith pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and a separate weapon-possession count was dropped. On July 21, 2022, a judge sentenced Smith to 18 years in prison for the killing of Nicholas Sims.

Did anyone at the party or neighbors in the Bullinger block see or hear anything that could add detail to the timeline leading up to the shooting?