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Gunfire broke out Sunday morning following an argument in what residents say is an otherwise quiet, southeast Wichita neighborhood, leaving at least one man with a gunshot wound.
Wichita police Sgt. Bart Brunscheen said a heated altercation between at least two people in the 4900 block of east Mount Vernon on Sunday quickly escalated when one pulled a gun and fired several shots outside of a house. At least one bullet struck a man in the shoulder, Brunscheen said at the scene. His injuries are not life threatening.
Police think the gunman is among at least five adults at the house when the shooting occurred, but were still sorting through conflicting accounts from witnesses and the victim Sunday afternoon to determine the shooter’s identity and motive.
“He (the victim) states that he was just showing up at the house and at that point in time, he states there were shots fired at him,” Brunscheen said of statements made to police by the man who was shot. “But we’re not really getting a solid story on that because he’s been changing.”
At least five children, ranging in age from 1 to 14, were also inside of the house when the shooting occurred shortly before 10:30 a.m., Brunscheen said. The house is located on the northwest corner of Bleckley and Mount Vernon, two houses east of Allen Elementary, a neighborhood school near Oliver.
Robin Smith was inside her home on the southeast corner of Bleckley and Mount Vernon, talking on the phone when she heard “what I thought were fireworks,” she said.
“I just didn’t get up and look because I thought it was firecrackers. I just didn’t know until the police officer talked to me and asked if I heard shots going off.”
In all, Smith, 52, said she heard four or five shots. Later, she saw an officer escort a handcuffed man out of the house and into a police car, she said.
“You don’t expect this on a Sunday morning,” Smith said.
Brunscheen said officers en route to a disturbance at the house were notified by Sedgwick County dispatchers that shots had been fired. A short time after, police learned a man with a gunshot wound to his shoulder had walked into Via Christi Hospital on Harry. The man, who police say is in his 20s or 30s, was transported later to St. Francis for treatment.
Officers also found blood on a vehicle and a bullet hole piercing a rear door of a silver compact car parked in a driveway across the street, he said. Some of the shots fired also hit another house.
At least five adults, including the man police think is the shooter, were taken downtown for questioning, Brunscheen said. Police have not released additional details about the shooting victim or the gunman.
