Woman, 55, killed in shooting near Ninth, Grove; man critically injured (+video)

A 55-year-old woman is dead after a shooting in the 2500 block of East Mossman, according to Wichita police.

Wichita police Capt. Brian White said officers responded to a 911 call that shots had been fired at that location near Ninth and Grove around 3 p.m. Tuesday.

When they arrived, they found the woman dead inside a house and another man in his 20s critically injured, White said.

Relatives of the victims at the scene said the two were cousins.

White said a vehicle left the location after the shooting, and police were searching for several suspects but had made no arrests.

“We do have some direction in the case, but we still have a lot of work to do,” White said.

White said police have “limited information” on the circumstances leading up to the shooting.

It was a highly emotional scene, as wails and screams from family members pierced the brisk air.

About an hour and a half after the shooting, a police officer was seen leading a small, fluffy black dog out of the house.

He led the dog underneath the crime-scene tape and left it with a family member.

“They took my baby,” a woman in a black jacket screamed repeatedly. “For what? For what?”

The woman huddled with a group of family members on a nearby sidewalk and began to pray, loudly.

“Lord, touch me, Lord,” she said, eyes closed as family members held her close. “I promise you, Lord. I leave this in your hands.”

The woman, who said she would not leave the scene until the victim’s body was removed from the house, was escorted from the scene by family members.

Muted inside a Ford sedan, the woman threw her head back on the passenger’s seat and buried her face in her hands, leaning against a window as the car drove off.

The man who was driving the car attempted to console her.

“There’s nothing we can do about this,” he said. “We’ve just got to take care of the ones who did it.”

The victim had multiple children, including one who is currently in college, said a woman who said she was a cousin of the victim.

The woman, who identified herself as Mary, said the victim had not lived in the East Mossman house for long – at most, three to four months, she said.

“She wasn’t the type of person that hurt nobody,” she said. “She was big-hearted.”

School locked down

Spaght Multimedia Magnet Elementary School, which is about two blocks north of the shooting scene on Grove, went into lockdown for about 15 minutes Tuesday afternoon, according to USD 259.

District spokeswoman Susan Arensman said police had advised the school to go into lockdown because of the proximity of the shooting.

It went into lockdown shortly before 3 p.m., she said, and the lockdown was lifted around 3:15 p.m.

The school dismissed normally at 4:10 p.m., Arensman said.

A note from Spaght’s interim assistant principal went home to parents Tuesday evening, saying, “at no time were our students or staff in any danger.”

Police are expected to release more information at a 10 a.m. media briefing Wednesday.

This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Woman, 55, killed in shooting near Ninth, Grove; man critically injured (+video)."