Boy, 9, killed in shooting and 11-year-old friend opened bedroom gun safe, police say

Update 4:26 p.m.: A 9-year-old boy visiting young friends at a south Wichita mobile home died from a single gunshot wound in an accidental shooting, Wichita police said Monday morning.

Wichita police Officer Charley Davidson said in a later news release that the boy and an 11-year-old who lived at the house managed to open a gun safe in a bedroom, found guns inside and started playing with them. Investigators think a gun the 11-year-old, also a boy, was handling went off, striking the 9-year-old, Davidson said. The 9-year-old died at the scene.

The 9-year-old boy, the 11-year-old and three other children were apparently alone inside of the home when the shooting happened, he said.

The name of the boy killed was not released by police Monday. But his mother Geneva “Sunny” Smith in a Facebook message to The Eagle said he is her son, Roy’Ale Spencer. A GoFundMe account has been set up by one of Roy’Ale’s aunts, Brenda Reed, to collect donations for his burial costs, she confirmed in the message.

Reed, on the GoFundMe page, wrote that her family was still “unsure of all the complete details at this moment” and asked for community members who are able for “donations of any sort that could assist in the help of us burying her (Geneva Smith’s) baby.” Smith is a single mother of two boys, Reed wrote.

Smith, in a public Facebook post, asked for privacy. “I understand everybody is concerned but i dont have all the answers myself,” she wrote. “... im at a loss for words.”

Davidson, in a morning news briefing with reporters, called the child’s death tragic. It comes as Wichita public schools children were out of class on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“Wichita Police Department thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the family involved in this case,” Davidson said near the shooting scene, Stonegate mobile home park at 2201 E. MacArthur. The park is close to Hydraulic.

Davidson said the child killed and a 16-year-old boy were at the house seeing friends who lived there when he was shot. Someone called 911 at 8:23 a.m., a Sedgwick County dispatcher said. Officers responded about a minute later.

When police arrived, they found the boy dead inside of the house. The children who live there are 16, 14 and 11, and are all related, Davidson said. It wasn’t immediately clear who owns the gun used, Davidson said.

No adults were there at the time, he said.

“Right now our homicide investigators have been called into assist with the investigation as we continue to try to learn the circumstances of just what occurred inside of the home,” Davidson said Monday morning.

At the time of Davidson’s morning briefing, there had been no arrests made in connection with the case.

Later, when releasing details of what happened, he said “the case will be presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.” The DA’s office reviews facts of police investigations and decides whether and against whom to file criminal charges.

Shortly after the shooting, several police patrol cars were parked outside of a white, single-wide mobile home sitting on Pebble Lane in the southwest corner of Stonegate. A few curious residents of the surrounding homes ventured outside in the cold briefly, but mostly the property was quiet.

Officers were still at the home mid-afternoon Monday.

Davidson said he expected to release more information during a Tuesday morning news briefing at Wichita City Hall.

Original story: A 9-year-old was shot and killed in a mobile home at Stonegate mobile home park this morning, Wichita police said.

Police responded to a 911 call about a shooting in the 2200 block of East MacArthur at about 8:25 a.m. The child was found dead from a single gunshot wound, police said.

Police say it’s still unclear what happened. Investigators are talking with the children who were in the home. No adults apparently were there at the time.

There are no arrests at this time, Wichita police Officer Charley Davidson said. He called the shooting tragic.

Wichita public schools are not in session today because of MLK Day.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

This story was originally published January 21, 2019 at 10:44 AM.