WRITER: Sara Shepherd

Shooting survivor, friend of defendant testify reluctantly at downtown Lawrence triple murder trial

Updated story - June 25 — Jury finds Topeka man guilty of 3 downtown Lawrence murders Story updated at 6:54 p.m. Monday, June 17: Two reticent witnesses testified Monday morning at the murder trial of Anthony L. Roberts Jr. One of the witnesses was facing the man who allegedly shot him twice and fatally shot his cousin, to whom he crawled after the shooting but found lifeless on the sidewalk. The ...

‘Bullets whistling past my head’: Eyewitness testifies he saw triple murder defendant, second man shooting on Mass. Street

Updated story - June 25 — Jury finds Topeka man guilty of 3 downtown Lawrence murders Updated at 6:13 p.m. Friday, June 14: Robert Wheeler was squarely at the center of the brawl that escalated to deadly gunfire on Massachusetts Street. The Topeka resident then helped police load his fatally injured cousin into a patrol car to be rushed to the hospital. He briefly talked to an officer at the hospital. ...

'Chaos' and death on Mass Street: Witnesses at trial describe immediate aftermath of triple homicide

Updated story - June 25 — Jury finds Topeka man guilty of 3 downtown Lawrence murders Story updated at 6:31 p.m. Thursday, June 13, 2019: Silence weighed over the courtroom as a young woman quietly described seeing her best friend crumple to the sidewalk after being shot, then holding her hand as she died on Massachusetts Street. Next, Courtney Germany said she called Leah Brown’s mother. “I told ...

Mass. Street trial begins: Prosecutors say defendant came to ‘settle a score’ and murdered 3 in melee; he argues he fired in self-defense

Updated story - June 25 — Jury finds Topeka man guilty of 3 downtown Lawrence murders While hundreds of others on Massachusetts Street were just out having a good time, Anthony L. Roberts Jr. rolled into Lawrence to “settle a score,” prosecutors contended Wednesday in opening arguments at Roberts’ murder trial. Roberts, 22, of Topeka, and his friends confronted a group of other Topeka men they ...

Douglas County sheriff won't seek another term, plans to retire in 2020

Updated at 2:19 p.m. Wednesday Douglas County Sheriff Ken McGovern will retire instead of seeking reelection to a fifth term in 2020, he announced Wednesday. McGovern, 60, has worked for the sheriff’s office for 37 years and was elected sheriff, as a Republican, in 2004. He said his decision followed lengthy consideration. “After great discussion and consideration with my family, I’ve determined that I ...

Jury selection will continue for third day in Massachusetts Street murder trial

Updated story - June 25 — Jury finds Topeka man guilty of 3 downtown Lawrence murders The process of choosing the people who will decide the case of Anthony L. Roberts Jr. — the Topeka man charged with three murders in the 2017 shootings on Massachusetts Street — will continue into a third day. After the second day of jury selection for the trial, about 60 potential jurors remained in the group at ...