Newton police arrest suspects in KCK homicide

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Newton Police assisted in the arrest of three homicide suspects out of Kansas City, Kan., on Sunday night.

The three suspects, Aaron Johnson, 18; Mark Elliott Nash Jr., 18; and Marquel McGee, 18; all residents of KCK, are being held in the Harvey County jail on charges of first-degree murder, pending transfer to Wyandotte County.

The suspects were wanted in connection with the shooting death of 64-year-old James Dodds on Sunday evening. The case remains under investigation by the KCKPD major case unit.

Just after 11 p.m. on Sunday, Newton police and the Harvey County Sheriff’s Office received a notification from a Flock automatic license plate reader camera in Chase County that a vehicle involved in a KCK homicide was heading west toward Newton on Highway 50.

A sheriff’s deputy located the vehicle once it entered Harvey County and attempted to stop it, but the driver refused to pull over.

Officers blocked exit ramps so the suspects could not get into Newton and deployed spike strips on I-135. The suspects’ vehicle was disabled, and the three suspects were taken into custody without incident near the 36th Street exit.

On Monday, police and sheriff’s deputies searched the area of the vehicle stop and found guns and ammunition in the ditch and shoulder of I-135.

Police believe the suspects threw them out of the moving vehicle just prior to the chase ending. The guns are believed to be those used in the KCK homicide.