Print edition: 
He never saw his killers.
The 13-year-old boy simply heard a knock on the door at 2412 N. Jackson early Sunday and went to answer it.
The two men outside didn't wait for the door to open before they began shooting, police said.
The young teen was hit by several bullets just after 6 a.m. and collapsed as the two suspects ran from the north Wichita neighborhood.
"It could have been any child — any person," Lt. Todd Ojile said Monday. "It did not matter to them. The house was the target, and whoever happened to be there and get in the way was a secondary problem to them."
Alert neighbors called in a description of the two men, Police Chief Norman Williams said. Four minutes later, an officer responding to the area spotted someone matching that description driving an SUV.
She called for additional officers as she trailed the SUV, and four minutes later the vehicle was pulled over near 29th and Broadway. Three people in the SUV were questioned and arrested, and a fourth person was arrested Sunday night.
By then, the young teen's fight for life had ended at Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis. His name is being withheld pending the notification of relatives. He is the 10th homicide victim of the year in Wichita.
The mother and two younger brothers, who were asleep at the time of the shooting, were not injured.
The shooting appears to be in retaliation for a fight in west Wichita on May 29 that resulted in the stabbing of one person, Ojile said.
The suspects, who knew or were related to one of the victims in the May 29 fight, went to the house thinking someone involved in that fight lived there.
"It looks like an attempted retaliation," Ojile said, "but they got the wrong residence and the wrong individual."
Three of the four suspects are adults who are documented gang members, he said, but that had nothing to do with the shooting. The 16-year-old boy arrested in the case is not a gang member.
"This was not a gang incident," Ojile said. "No one at the residence is a gang member. No one is affiliated with gangs at that residence."
The neighborhood
The house was built and financed by Mennonite Housing six years ago, and neighbors say the family that lives there is hard-working.
It sits in the heart of a block of homes and fenced-in yards with a trampoline or a playground set or a basketball hoop.
On the north end of the block, a side yard has been converted into a small soccer pitch, with two miniature goals.
"Kids play in the yards here all the time," said one neighbor, who did not want her name used because of safety concerns.
But no one came running when an ice cream truck playing "La Cucaracha" drove slowly down the street early Monday afternoon. The yards were empty as concerned parents kept their children inside.
Among them was Janeth Lopez, who didn't want 1-year-old Ariana to go outside to play.
Lopez looked toward the white house with the fountain next to the front door. Crime-scene tape was draped across the driveway, dancing in a stiff south breeze.
"I'm scared," she admitted, using her front door to keep her daughter from escaping into the front yard.
She's not the only one.
This has always been a quiet, safe block, residents said Monday, and this shooting happened at 6 a.m. On a Sunday.
"In broad daylight," said one neighbor, who did not want to give her name because of safety concerns. "Where you could see everything."
That last detail was vital, Williams said.
"Several neighbors... gave a great description of the suspect,'' he said.
"If the neighbors had not made that phone call, as well as the child's mother, we never would have been able to respond in the manner that we did.
"It allowed for this case to be solved in a timely manner."
Police meet neighbors
Monday evening, police gathered with neighbors to update them and tell them how their calls and quick actions helped them.
"This should be held up as a model," said Lt. James Espinoza of the Wichita police. "They should be proud of the way they stepped up and made calls about this incident. They're really taking ownership of this neighborhood."
About 60 people stood talking to a group of officers in front of the house with nearly a dozen bullet holes sprayed through the front door.
Residents asked questions, which police answered in both English and Spanish.
One neighbor asked why police blocked off the streets, so the ambulance could not immediately get into the block after the shooting.
Officers explained they wanted to make sure the area was safe for emergency crews, that someone with a gun wasn't still present. They also work to make sure crimes scenes are secured and evidence preserved.
"Listening to these concerns, we can take information we get here and work to improve some of our procedures," Espinoza said.
Most of all, police wanted to express their appreciation to the neighbors for giving the kind of help they don't always from residents.
"We can't be everywhere at every time," Espinoza said. "It's essential we have citizens willing to work with us."
