‘Person of interest’ in shooting death faces six gun charges

A man wanted for questioning in the shooting death of a Lawrence man last month has been formally charged with gun violations and ordered to appear Nov. 17 before a judge in Kansas City, Kan.A grand jury on Wednesday issued a six-count indictment against Major C. Edwards Jr., 27. He’s charged with five counts of illegally possessing guns or ammunition and one count of having a gun not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transaction Record.The case against Edwards arose while sheriff’s detectives and Lawrence Police investigated the death of Anthony Vital, 28, who was found shot to death Oct. 15 in a field west of Lawrence. Witnesses said Edwards and Vital had gone out together the night before. When police went looking for Edwards, they served a search warrant and found guns and ammunition inside his Lawrence home. Edwards is barred from owning a gun because of a prior conviction for selling cocaine. A manhunt led police to Mississippi, where they found Edwards in a hotel room a week after the shooting and arrested him for gun violations.-contributed by Eric Weslander.