photo by: Elvyn Jones

The Bullpen, a Baldwin City sports bar, was open Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022, a day after gunshots were fired outside the building and at the city library a block to the east.

A man accused of driving by a Baldwin City bar and library and shooting at people was deemed unfit to stand trial Monday in Douglas County District Court.

The man, Junah Augustus Sisney, 21, of Baldwin City, faces one count of attempted capital murder, according to charging documents. He is alleged to have fired at multiple people outside the Bullpen Bar, 811 Eighth St., in Baldwin City before driving around the block and firing at more people near the Baldwin City Library, 800 Seventh St., then returning to the bar and firing at it again, as the Journal-World reported.

The attempted capital murder charge is an off-grid felony that could result in a life sentence if Sisney is convicted, according to charging documents. Attempted capital murder is defined in Kansas law as an intentional and premeditated attempted killing of more than one person as a part of the same act.

“I wanted to kill some people. Ever since I was a kid,” Sisney told a Douglas County Sheriff’s detective when asked how long he had been thinking about killing someone. Sisney made the statement shortly after his arrest, and he was ordered to stand trial after a video of the interview was played at a preliminary hearing in April.

Judge Stacey Donovan ordered Sisney on Monday to spend a period not to exceed 90 days at the Larned State Hospital to restore his competency to effectively assist his attorney, Nicholas David, at trial.

Donovan said that she was concerned with the long wait times at Larned and asked David whether Sisney would be eligible for Osawatomie State Hospital, which has a shorter waiting list.

David said that Sisney would not be a good candidate for Osawatomie because Sisney is refusing to take prescribed medications that could help with his mental state while at the Douglas County Jail and Osawatomie won’t force a patient to take medications.

“Larned is the only facility that will force compliance,” David said.

Donovan then asked whether the future court dates scheduled for Sisney should remain on the calendar, to which David replied “no” and that he would need to meet with Sisney after his stay at the hospital to determine how to move forward.

Sisney is currently being held at the Douglas County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

The Journal-World has reached out to the Larned State Hospital to find out how long a wait Sisney faces to get in, but representatives from the hospital were not available for comment Monday afternoon.

The Larned wait list for Douglas County includes Chad Marek, who is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly killing his wife, Regan Marek, 25, on May 16, 2022. Marek was declared incompetent to stand trial. As the Journal-World reported, he was No. 101 on the wait list for Larned in January. He has been in custody at the Douglas County Jail since May of 2022.

The Douglas County Jail currently has seven inmates waiting to go to Larned State Hospital and two inmates waiting to go to Osawatomie State Hospital, said George Diepenbrock, spokesperson with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. He said there is also one inmate taking part in the Mobile Restoration Program, which connects inmates with local services to restore mental competency while the person is being housed at the jail.

The individual who has waited the longest in Douglas County was ordered to Larned on Aug. 1, 2022, Diepenbrock said.