Cigarette Violence

Wichita Convenience Stores Targeted By Cigarette Robbers

Jeanene Kiesling

Wichita Convenience Stores Targeted By Cigarette Robbers

August 22--A Kwik Shop on South Oliver was actually robbed twice Saturday. One of the suspects used an unusually violent method to make off with the goods.

It's the second time in as many days investigators say a man used rubbing alcohol as a weapon during a robbery. He's also a suspect in a third robbery late last week. But the crook was after cigarettes, not cash. "Cigarettes can be something to sell on the street and make money to support a habit," said Wichita Police Lt. James Bohannon.

And the man is not alone. Authorities are investigating two more robberies where cigarettes were what drove the suspects to steal.
Saturday morning, two men entered the Kwik Shop on South Oliver and grabbed several cartons of cigarettes.

The loss to the business is at most a few hundred dollars. But because it's a robbery, it's still a felony.

If you have any information on the holdups, call Crimestoppers at 267-2111.

http://www.kake.com/

Cigarette Shooting

April 2/05

Kansas:  A request for a cigarette apparently led to the shooting death of a former high school track athlete in Wichita.

Police say 25-year-old David Kating, who ran track at Coleman Middle School and East High, was shot by a 16-year-old boy Wednesday in southeast Wichita. He was shot after an argument broke out over his request for a cigarette.

The teen was booked into the Juvenile Detention Facility on a first-degree murder charge. A 24-year-old man who was with him was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on a weapons charge.

http://www.wibw.com/