Devario Ceon Edwards Obituary, Death; – A 28-year-old man from Wichita broadcasted his personal struggles on social media prior to a deadly confrontation with Wichita police and Sedgwick County deputies late Thursday at Spirit AeroSystems, as reported by officials and his social media activity.
During the exchange of gunfire, two police vehicles sustained damage, and Devario Ceon Edwards was struck multiple times, according to a news release from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation issued shortly before 4 p.m. on Friday.
“Edwards discharged over 20 rounds towards law enforcement,” stated KBI spokesperson Natalie Turner in the release. “In total, eight officers returned fire with over 100 rounds.”
The KBI made available a video that captures Edwards exiting a vehicle, raising his hands, and subsequently opening fire on a Wichita police vehicle. The footage concludes shortly thereafter.
In the 26 hours leading up to his death, Edwards had been arrested and subsequently released on bond.
Police documentation indicates that he was apprehended for a domestic violence incident reported at 10:08 p.m. on Wednesday, during which a victim was assaulted and property was taken. The police report lists the block where Edwards resided. He was released from custody for this incident on Thursday.
Two additional police reports were associated with this case: one, occurring in the same block at 8:35 a.m. on Thursday, described a situation where a man felt “threatened for his life” when a suspect “attempted to strike him with a metal pipe.” Another report, made at the same time without a specific address, detailed a victim’s claim that a suspect was “distributing nude photographs of her on social media to friends and family.”
Officers were summoned again around 9:07 p.m. on Thursday after Edwards allegedly forced entry into a residence and attempted to shoot a male occupant in the 5600 block of East Mainsgate, according to communications from Sedgwick County Emergency Services and Turner.
“Initial reports suggest that after Edwards tried to shoot the resident, he fled the location and initiated a Facebook livestream,” Turner noted. “In the video, he is seen armed with a rifle and mentioned that he was en route to Spirit (AeroSystems).”