Man charged in crash that killed two WSU students arrested after he reenters country

A 21-year-old man involved in a November 2023 accident that killed two Wichita State University students has been arrested and booked into Sedgwick County Jail, according to records released Wednesday.

Ahmed Rateb I Juma and 20-year-old Mohammed Shaafout were charged on Oct. 22, 2024, with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the Nov. 15, 2023, deaths.

The charges the two men face mention “racing on highways.”

Juma has a first appearance in court scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Shaafout has not yet been arrested.

Juma, who was driving his vehicle with passengers and fellow students Carol Chakra and Lian Awadi, both 19, left the country after being charged and after a warrant was issued for his arrest, according to the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office. It is not clear why he left.

The sheriff’s office got information on Jan. 10 that he had returned to the United States. He was arrested in Miami-Dade County in Florida and then extradited to Sedgwick County Jail, where he arrived on Tuesday.

The fatal accident happened around 2:28 a.m. in the 6200 block of East Pawnee.

Juma was driving his 2013 Lexus GS 350, which was found in a ditch along with a 2013 Lexus ES 250 that had been driven by Shaafout, the sheriff’s office said.

Chakra and Awadi were both ejected from the vehicle when it hit a utility pole and rolled. Chakra, who had fled the war in Syria with her family and planned to pursue a career in healthcare, died at the scene; Awadi died at the hospital. Juma was also taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

Authorities ID two Wichita State students who died in southeast Wichita car collision