A Wichita man pleaded guilty Sept. 11 to killing two people in separate downtown shootings nearly two years apart.
Kevin Buggs, 56, entered guilty pleas in Sedgwick County District Court before Judge Jeffrey Goering, according to the Wichita Eagle. He pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter in the June 2026 death of Stevie Lee Young, 59. He also pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter in the September 2024 death of Ronnie Wallace, 50.
Young shooting: June 14, 2026
On Sunday, June 14, Wichita police officers responded around 11:44 a.m. to the 400 block of North Market Street after a report of a shooting, according to a Wichita Police Department news release. Officers found Young inside a vehicle with a gunshot wound. Emergency medical crews took him to a Wichita hospital in critical condition. He died that afternoon.
Investigators determined the shooting happened in the 300 block of North Topeka Avenue. Officers later found and arrested Buggs in the 2100 block of North Wellington Place. He was initially booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder.
Buggs had originally faced charges of first-degree murder, criminal discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle, criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and drug possession in Young's death, KSN reported.
Wallace shooting: Sept. 21, 2024
The second case stems from a shooting on Sept. 21, 2024. Officers responded around 7:50 p.m. to the 600 block of North Topeka Avenue, north of Old Town, after reports of a shooting, according to the Wichita Police Department. They found Wallace lying in a parking lot with a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
No criminal complaint was filed in Wallace's death until Thursday, Sept. 10, nearly two years after the shooting, KSN reported. Court records show Buggs made his first appearance in that case Thursday and had been scheduled for a preliminary hearing later in September. Instead, he returned to court Friday and entered guilty pleas in both cases.
Whether police suspected Buggs in the 2024 killing when they arrested him in June for Young's death remains unclear.
Criminal history
Kansas Department of Corrections records show Buggs violated probation on a 2019 domestic violence conviction and was sent to El Dorado Correctional Facility in December 2024, KSN reported. He entered post-release supervision in February 2025 and was released from supervision earlier in 2026.
The Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office has not commented publicly on the cases. Wichita police declined to comment in an email exchange with KSN on Thursday, referring the outlet to the district attorney's office.
Buggs' sentencing is set for Thursday, Oct. 29, in Sedgwick County District Court. Anyone with information about violent crimes in Wichita can call Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.
