Investigators say three relatives were killed within minutes before the accused man drove away and was captured south of Wichita.

WICHITA, Kan. — Newly released court records provide the clearest account yet of a September shooting that killed three members of a Wichita family, detailing a calm conversation shortly before gunfire, a rapid sequence captured by nearby cameras and the evidence police say they found after arresting a 21-year-old relative.

Juan D. Valenzuela-Silva is charged with capital murder in the Sept. 26 deaths of his father, 49-year-old Juan Valenzuela-Ayala; his mother, 40-year-old Brenda Silva-Cervantes; and his sister, 25-year-old Daisy Valenzuela. Prosecutors also charged him with aggravated endangering a child. The three victims were found inside the family home on East Blake Street. Two 17-year-olds and a 2-year-old girl who were also at the residence were not physically injured, according to Wichita police. Valenzuela-Silva is presumed innocent unless proved guilty in court.

The probable cause affidavit adds a sequence of events that was not available when police first announced the killings. A woman who was inside the house told detectives she entered the kitchen shortly before the shooting and saw Valenzuela-Silva talking with his mother about paperwork that needed to be signed. She reported no argument or obvious confrontation. After going upstairs, she heard what she initially thought sounded like one of the imitation guns she knew were kept in the home. She then heard several popping sounds, a woman scream and additional shots, according to the affidavit.

Valenzuela-Silva’s brother gave investigators another account from inside the house. He said he had been in bed when the sounds began. After leaving the bedroom, he saw Valenzuela-Silva coming upstairs while carrying what he described as an AR-15-style rifle. According to the affidavit, Valenzuela-Silva indicated that he needed to leave, briefly entered his bedroom and then headed back downstairs. The brother followed and discovered his father and sister on the floor. He picked up the 2-year-old girl and left the residence with his girlfriend. Police have not accused either teenager or the toddler of any role in the violence.

Video helped investigators narrow the timeline to a period of only a few minutes. The affidavit says a front-facing camera showed Valenzuela-Ayala outside the home shortly after 11:20 a.m. He returned through the front door minutes later. A neighboring camera then recorded sounds identified in the affidavit as gunfire beginning at about 11:26 a.m., followed by additional shots. At approximately 11:28 a.m., investigators say Valenzuela-Silva was recorded leaving the front door, entering an Infiniti in the driveway and driving away. Sedgwick County emergency dispatchers received an open-line 911 call at about 11:29 a.m. The caller initially did not respond and then reported that people had been shot.

Officers arrived to find Valenzuela-Ayala and Daisy Valenzuela in the living room near the front of the home and Silva-Cervantes in a bedroom, according to the affidavit. Medical personnel pronounced all three dead. Court records describe gunshot injuries and evidence from the scene, but the killings can be reported without repeating the affidavit’s most graphic details. Investigators reported recovering nine rifle-caliber cartridge casings from the residence, most of them from the living-room area. Police also recovered a rifle from an upstairs bedroom and said records showed it had been purchased in 2024. A handgun was found in an open gun case, and investigators documented other imitation or recreational guns in the room.

The affidavit also recounts information from Daisy Valenzuela’s partner, who was at work when the shooting happened. He told investigators he had known the family for about 11 years and had lived in the home for three. According to the document, he described Valenzuela-Silva as sometimes paranoid and recalled an incident roughly five months earlier in which Valenzuela-Silva allegedly became convinced his father wanted to kill him and displayed a kitchen knife. The incident ended without anyone being injured, the witness told detectives. Those statements are allegations contained in a probable cause filing, not findings of fact, and police have not publicly established a motive for the Sept. 26 killings.

The search for Valenzuela-Silva began almost immediately after officers identified him as a suspect. Wichita police said investigators entered information about the Infiniti into the department’s Flock automated license plate reader system. Alerts first indicated that the vehicle was traveling south from Wichita, possibly toward Oklahoma. Police released an armed-and-dangerous notice and shared information with several agencies, including the Kansas Highway Patrol, Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, Butler County Sheriff’s Office and authorities farther south. Additional alerts later placed the vehicle on a route toward Butler County.

A Butler County sheriff’s deputy eventually located the Infiniti, and the Kansas Highway Patrol provided air support as deputies stopped the vehicle south of Augusta. Valenzuela-Silva was the only person inside and was taken into custody without incident, authorities said. Wichita police said he was not armed when he was arrested. The arrest came within hours of the shooting. Police Chief Joe Sullivan credited the regional response and said officers’ first concern at the house had been ensuring the safety of the three younger people who survived.

Two days after the shooting, Wichita police publicly identified the three people who died and confirmed their relationships to Valenzuela-Silva. Neighbors interviewed by local news outlets described the area as generally quiet and said the deaths were unsettling. One neighbor said she had exchanged friendly waves with members of the household. A fundraiser organized by a relative was also established to help the family with funeral expenses. The family’s public statement described the deaths of three loved ones as a loss that was difficult to comprehend.

The legal stakes became clearer on Sept. 30, when Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett announced the formal charges. Under the Kansas capital murder provision cited by prosecutors, an intentional and premeditated killing of more than one person may qualify as capital murder when the deaths are part of the same act, connected transactions or a common course of conduct. A conviction can carry life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or, if prosecutors seek it and other legal requirements are met, the death penalty. Bennett’s office said at the time of charging that no decision had been made on whether to pursue a death sentence.

The aggravated child endangerment charge adds a separate issue to the case because a 2-year-old was present in the home during the shooting. Police initially said two 17-year-olds and the toddler were inside and unhurt. The later affidavit provided more detail about how one of the surviving occupants carried the child out after discovering the victims. Authorities have not publicly alleged that the younger occupants were intentionally targeted. The precise reason they were left unharmed, like the broader motive alleged by investigators, has not been established in the public court record.

What remains unresolved is why three members of the family were killed while three younger people in the home survived. Investigators have not publicly established a motive, and the allegations summarized in the probable cause affidavit have not been tested at trial. Valenzuela-Silva remains accused of capital murder and aggravated endangering a child as the case continues through Sedgwick County District Court.

Author note: Last updated Nov. 10, 2026.