Joshua Castaneda was located in the 2600 block of 20th St. and arrested around 10:12 p.m. Tuesday, the Great Bend Police Department reports. Police had been looking for the 34-year-old man since early Sunday, when he was allegedly involved in a shootout on Main Street in front of Charlie’s Place bar, 1109 Main St.
He was booked into the Barton County Jail at 12:53 a.m. Wednesday on an attempted second-degree murder charge in lieu of $250,000 bond.
Police sought the public’s assistance in locating Joshua R. Castaneda, 34. The GBPD received several tips, including a caller who claimed to have asked Castaneda to turn himself in via a phone call but did not know his location.
According to a statement from the Great Bend Police Department, GBPD and the Barton County Sheriff’s Office were responding to multiple calls to check different areas Tuesday when the Sheriff’s Office located Castanada at a residence on 20th St.
Tia S. McNett, 31, was also placed under arrested and booked on charges of interference with law enforcement related to this case.
This case is in connection with the second of two unrelated shooting incidents in Great Bend over the weekend.
It reportedly started with a fight behind Charlie’s Place. Police were dispatched to a fight in progress at 12:31 a.m. Sunday but when they arrived things had calmed down.
“Two individuals were reported to have been involved in a verbal argument with several members of a local motorcycle group,” according to a GBPD statement. Two people were escorted out of Charlie’s Place by employees, without incident.
However, police were called back to the bar at 12:59 a.m. with a report of shots fired.
According to witness reports, one individual from the previous report of a fight in progress, identified as Castaneda, returned to the Main Street entrance of Charlie’s Place in a white four-door pickup and got out of it. There was another confrontation “between Castanada and several members of a local motorcycle group. Witnesses reported seeing Joshua Castaneda pull a handgun and begin firing rounds toward the west, into the front entrance area of Charlie’s Place. Witnesses also reported members of the local motorcycle group pulling handguns and firing rounds back toward the east at Castanada and his vehicle.”
Castaneda fled the area in the white pickup, driving southbound on Main Street.
One individual, identified as Tyler Shea Deforest, 30, sustained a minor gunshot wound to the chest. Deforest was treated and released.
Several businesses and vehicles in the 1100 block of Main Street sustained damage and officers recovered numerous shell casings and bullet fragments.
The Barton County Sheriff’s Office assisted.
The Kansas Department of Corrections website shows Castaneda has prior criminal convictions that expired July 14, 2009. In 2004 he committed burglary of a non-dwelling in Barton County. In 2005 he committed theft - obtain control of property worth at least $1,000 but less than $25,000, and aggravated battery - intentional physical contact, both in Edwards County.
Anyone with any additional information is urged to contact the Great Bend Police Department, 620-793-4120, or Crime Stoppers, 620-792-1300.
