Mayetta Man, 21, Charged With Murder in NOTO Arts District Double Killing

Two men were shot and killed on North Kansas Avenue in Topeka's NOTO Arts District on September 10, in the middle of a strip of art galleries and shops that draws weekend crowds to the neighborhood. On September 16, prosecutors filed formal murder charges against a 21-year-old Mayetta man, Kristen Knight Wahquahboshkuk, and a judge set his bond at $1 million.

The victims were Warren H. Eteeyan, 75, and Larry J. Smutny, 75. Topeka police say the shooting happened in the 900 block of North Kansas Avenue. Eteeyan was pronounced dead at the scene; Smutny was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

Wahquahboshkuk was arrested on September 11, one day after the killings, following an investigation by Topeka police that included a public appeal for help identifying a person of interest. The Shawnee County District Attorney's office, led by Mike Kagay, filed formal charges five days later.

Wahquahboshkuk faces two counts of first-degree murder on a premeditation theory and two counts of first-degree murder on an inherently-dangerous-felony theory — both off-grid felonies in Kansas, the most serious classification in the state's sentencing system. He also faces a charge of criminal discharge of a firearm into a building, a level 3 felony; aggravated endangerment of a child, a level 9 felony; and a misdemeanor criminal trespass count.

He remains in custody at the Shawnee County Jail on the $1 million bond. The case is proceeding in Shawnee County District Court; no trial date has been set.

NOTO — North Topeka Arts District — has spent more than a decade rebuilding a once-struggling stretch of North Kansas Avenue into a corridor of galleries, studios, and public art, anchored by monthly "First Friday Art Walks." The double homicide is a rare instance of deadly violence in a district that markets itself on foot traffic and street life.