Lawrence Police Chief Rich Lockhart speaks at a press conference at Lawrence Police Department Headquarters, 5100 Overland Drive, on Thursday, March 7, 2024.

Story updated at 4:12 p.m. Thursday, March 7, 2024:

After two homicides in less than 24 hours in Lawrence, Police Chief Rich Lockhart on Thursday identified one of the victims and sought to address the community’s concerns about violent crime in the city.

In a news conference at police headquarters, Lockhart said that Vincent Lee Walker, 39, of Lawrence, was the man fatally shot across the street from the Lawrence Public Library early Wednesday evening. Lockhart also provided an update on the other homicide this week — the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Lawrence resident Davin Gregory Kerr late Tuesday night in the 2900 block of Crestline Drive.

In Wednesday’s homicide near the library, as the Journal-World reported, Walker was shot after a disagreement and was pronounced dead on the scene. And in the Crestline Drive case, Lockhart said that the shooting happened in Kerr’s home and that the suspect was someone Kerr knew.

Lockhart lamented that these situations had turned violent in the first place.

“This senseless violence, it’s things that people should be able to resolve without resorting to violence, and unfortunately it’s ended in the deaths of two people,” Lockhart said.

In both cases, police now have suspects in custody. The suspect in Tuesday night’s shooting is 21-year-old Dawson Edward Paine, of Topeka, who was arrested in that city on Thursday and has yet to be charged. The suspect in Wednesday evening’s shooting is Nicholas Beaver, 32, of Topeka, who was arrested later Wednesday night at West Sixth and Michigan streets on suspicion of second-degree murder.

photo by: Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office

Nicholas Laron Beaver

photo by: Lawrence Police Department

Dawson Edward Paine

Lockhart said police had received a call from the Lawrence Community Shelter on Tuesday night that may have been related to Beaver, in which someone with a similar description to Beaver dropped a gun on the floor and fled before police arrived on the scene. Lockhart said the shelter’s assistance was crucial in apprehending Beaver; he said the shelter’s new executive director, James Chiselom, told him he was happy to help and wanted community members to know he wants to provide a safe place for people who are experiencing homelessness.

“I truly believe, and I believe our investigators will confirm this, that had they not called us and been so cooperative with giving us video assistance, it would’ve been more difficult to find Mr. Beaver and take him into custody,” Lockhart said.

Lockhart said that Beaver had been in Lawrence for a very short time; the Douglas County Jail log listed his address as the Super 8 motel on Iowa Street.

The weapon police believe was used in the shooting was also recovered Wednesday evening, Lockhart said.

In addition to these two shootings, one other homicide has taken place in Lawrence over the past two weeks: the death of 51-year-old Crystal White, who on Feb. 22 was found fatally stabbed in her tent at an unsanctioned homeless camp in North Lawrence. Lockhart said that case and the shooting on Wednesday both involved people experiencing homelessness.

“We’ve had three murders of houseless individuals since last summer and each suspect could have easily disappeared, but this team is ready and willing to do the work and do it quickly — and that’s exactly what it takes to get the job done,” Lockhart said in a news release from the department on Thursday afternoon.

Also on Thursday, Lockhart sought to address the community’s concerns about violent crime in the city. He asserted that despite these highly visible incidents, violent crime is not very high in Lawrence overall. And he expressed confidence that the downtown area was safe, especially if people practice basic safety measures like paying close attention to their surroundings.

He said, for instance, that he doesn’t worry about his daughter going downtown, because “I know she’s smart; I know she’s safe.”

“I know that it’s hard to believe it right now, but our downtown is very safe,” Lockhart said. “These things happen everywhere. … In this situation, it was just a disagreement between two people that (resulted) in great tragedy, but it doesn’t mean the whole downtown’s not safe.”