WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - A Derby teen has been sentenced to 27.5 years for the shooting death of a 34-year-old Wichita man in 2023.

District Judge Jeffery Goering sentenced 18-year-old Philip Walls on Friday to a total of 330 months in prison. In March, Walls pled guilty to 2nd-degree murder, attempted aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping.

On December 6, 2023, the Blackwell, Oklahoma Police Department contacted Sedgwick County dispatch regarding a shooting investigation. Two people, one of whom suffered a gunshot wound, had shown up at a local hospital.

Wichita authorities were alerted to respond to a scene near MacArthur and Hydraulic where they found the victim, 34-year-old Daniel McPherson. He'd been shot in the head. Court documents state he died on December 5.

The two suspects, Walls and 20-year-old James Sawyer of Wichita were taken into custody in Kay County, and Wichita homicide detectives traveled there to investigate.

District Judge Jeffrey Goering sentenced Walls to 165 months each on the murder and kidnapping counts, 34 months on the att. agg. robbery. The judge ordered the first and third counts to run consecutive to each other, and the second count to be concurrent with the other two for a total of 330 months. 

Sawyer is set for a jury trial on August 26. He’s charged with first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated robbery.