Authorities say Victoria’s Bar shooting stemmed from verbal altercation with motorcycle group

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - The Shawnee Co. Sheriff’s Office has released a summary of events for the Sunday, May 14 shooting at Victoria’s Bar.

In the summary, officials say when deputies with the Shawnee Co. Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of multiple shots in the parking lot of Victoria’s Bar at 5011 SW Topeka Blvd., they found a 41-year-old male subject engaged in a verbal altercation with a group of individuals deputies said were associated with the Hell’s Lovers Motorcycle Club, but then several shots were fired.

Deputies said a vehicle arriving into the business parking lot to pick up an employee was also fired. The driver, a 35-year-old male, was struck multiple times by gunfire, but according to the Sheriff’s deputies, the driver managed to flee the scene. Officials located the vehicle later in the 4500 block of SW Topeka Blvd. and had the driver transported to the hospital, where the subject was later released.

The Sheriff’s Office then further explained that at the time of the shooting, a separate person that was not inside the bar and not involved in the altercation, originally, was sitting in a car in the Bar’s parking lot. According to the Sheriff’s Office, the individual then proceeded to exit the vehicle with a firearm and began shooting at the vehicle that deputies found in the 4500 block of SW Topeka Blvd.

Authorities say that person has been taken into custody for aggravated assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal discharge of a firearm.

The Shawnee Co. Sheriff’s Office provided a list of everyone arrested in connection to the Victoria’s Bar Shooting.

• Leon D. Smith-Love I., 28, of Topeka, has been charged with aggravated assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal discharge of a firearm
• Kathryn R. Hazelwood, 26, of Topeka has been charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia
• Charles D. Wheat, 42, of Topeka, has been charged with aggravated assault and criminal discharge of a firearm
• Jason M. Blenden Sr., 49, of Topeka, was booked in on an arrest warrant
• Storm M. Morgan, 30, of Meriden, Kan., has been charged with criminal discharge of a firearm
• Shawn M. Ray, 39, of Topeka, has been charged with criminal discharge of a firearm, aggravated assault, and interference with law enforcement
• The latest person taken into custody in connection to Victoria’s bar shooting was Caleb L. Conway, 41, of Topeka, who was booked in on a felony arrest warrant

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