1-year-old killed, 2 women hurt in shooting; Police chief calls for ‘coward’ to turn self in

WICHITA, Kansas (KWCH/Gray News) - A Kansas community is reeling after a shooting claimed the life of an infant.

Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan didn’t mince words late Monday night addressing the city’s latest case of gun violence that left an infant dead and two women critically injured.

At about 7:20 p.m. Monday, police responded to a shooting at Sugar Creek Apartments in the 2500 block of South Oliver, near Pawnee and Oliver.

Ambulances took three people with gunshot wounds. Two 24-year-old women were in critical condition. An infant was unresponsive, and police confirmed the child died at a hospital.

Police said in a Tuesday afternoon update that the infant was a 1-year-old child.

“It was initially advised that the child was 3-months-old at the time of the preliminary briefing, but as the investigation unfolded, it was learned that the correct age is 1-year-old,” the police department said.

Police also said the women’s injuries were critical but non-life-threatening.

Additional people inside the apartment at the time of the shooting included a 24-year-old man, a 5-year-old girl and a 10-month-old girl. Although the suspect fired multiple rounds into the apartment, police said those three were not injured.

Sullivan said the shooter likely neither knew nor cared who was inside the home.

“Some cowardly individual walked up to a house with no idea who was inside and really didn’t care who was inside, and fired several rounds into that home, and now we have this terrible tragedy,” he said. “Once again, somebody wanted a permanent solution to what I’m sure is a temporary problem. I guarantee this will all be over something stupid.”

Near the scene, a neighbor, across the street from the shooting scene, described hearing 10 to 15 gunshots as she spoke on the phone.

“I knew it wasn’t firecrackers,” the woman who identified herself as “Joanie” said.

She said she “hadn’t experienced anything like this before,” and not long after hearing the shots, a police officer knocks on her door. Joanie said the officer asked her how to get in touch with the apartment complex’s manager.

As of late Monday night, police hadn’t made an arrest in the violent crime, but Sullivan guaranteed that will happen with investigators having “strong direction.” He said witnesses were cooperating as “people are mad.”

Looking at the big picture of youth gun violence, Sullivan voiced frustration with “a lot of people walking around [Wichita] right now that have no business walking around this city right now.”

“Enough with the leniency, enough with worrying about the criminal, not worrying about the victim,” he said.

The chief indicated that a systematic change needs to come to make cities safer.

“This is our children. And we’re not, as a community, protecting them,” he said.

With his promise that “someone will be held accountable” for Monday night’s deadly shooting, Sullivan said he’s also going “to make sure the state legislature’s being accountable, (and) the judges are being held accountable,” when it comes to enforcement against violent crimes.

As the investigation into the deadly shooting continued Monday night, Sullivan directed a message at the person responsible.

“If you’re listening to this, the only option you have is to turn yourself in,” he said. “Call 911 and turn yourself in. It’s the only possible thing you can do to redeem yourself from something so horrifically horrible and most importantly, cowardly.”