The apartments on the campus of Southwestern College where Luna was shot sit taped off with police tape the morning of Dec. 18, 2019. (File photo by Brett Coplen)
A suspect in the December fatal shooting of a Southwestern College student has been formally charged with murder and is in custody in California.
21-year-old Deuntae Markese Markham, of Wichita, is currently being held without bond in San Francisco County Jail #2. He was arrested over the weekend following a traffic stop, according to Cowley County Sheriff Dave Falletti.
On July 2, Markham was formally charged, in Cowley County Dist. Court, with second-degree murder in the death of 32-year-old Gabriel J. Luna. He was shot Dec. 18, 2019 at the college’s honors apartments on the Winfield campus.
Luna was hospitalized in Wichita and died within a few days of the shooting.
An extradition hearing is set for next week in California. If Markham waives extradition, Falletti said his office would begin making arrangements to transport Markham from San Francisco back to Winfield.
If Markham were to contest extradition, it could prolong the process for returning him to Kansas.
Around 1 a.m., the day of the shooting, police responded to the report of a gunshot victim in the 1700 block of Fowler. Luna appeared to have been shot through the door of his apartment, investigators said.
Markham is accused of “unintentionally but recklessly” taking Luna’s life, according to the charging document on file in Winfield.
The school was in the midst of Christmas break at the time and Luna was one of few students on campus.
No details of any events leading up to the shooting have been made public. Though there has been indication that Luna and the accused shooter knew one another in some way.
Cowley County Attorney Larry Schwartz said his office had been waiting to publicly acknowledge the charge to give authorities time to bring Markham into custody.
Luna was a student at the college and played golf.
