Thursday morning, Great Bend police were again summoned to 1411 1/2 Second St., the scene of recent multiple shootings. This time, the reporting party said an unknown subject was trespassing on his property. William Ellington was contacted inside the house and was arrested on an outstanding warrant. The jail log lists Ellington as a Great Bend resident and he was booked on a Stafford County warrant for probation violation. He is being held without bond.
On Jan. 15, police were called to the same house just before 8 p.m. for a reported shooting. Three victims were taken from the house with shotgun pellet wounds that were not life-threatening, and it was later learned that two more victims in the house had also sustained gunshot wounds. They said the shots came from an unknown person or persons who knocked on the door and attempted to enter.
Two men were later arrested and charged with attempted first degree murder aggravated burglary. Suspects Nelson Martinez and Jose Torres Jr., both of Great Bend, are scheduled to appear in Barton County District Court starting at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6, for their preliminary hearings.
Also scheduled for a preliminary hearing Thursday morning is Robert Dale Nicholas, on a charge of attempted first degree murder from a 2013 case in which Torres was shot in the face. Several other men were also charged in connection with that case, and their cases are pending in District Court.