Man shot and killed near Douglas and Grove

A clash at a birthday party led to the fatal shooting of a 49-year-old Wichita man early Wednesday morning, police said.

The shooting was reported shortly before 3 a.m. at Douglas and Estelle, homicide Lt. Todd Ojile said. That’s east of East High School.

Officers arriving at the location found a man lying in the street in the 100 block of North Estelle. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:12 a.m.

Investigators are still trying to determine if the victim — whose name is being withheld pending notification of relatives — was a guest at the party or showed up unannounced, Ojile said.

“He was there for a short time and then shots were fired,” Ojile said.

The victim was shot once in the upper body, he said.

Crime scene tape draped a light-blue house on the northeast corner of Douglas and Estelle on Wednesday morning. The house has been converted to several small apartments, and residents of those apartments lingered outside. One man sat atop the roof over the front porch, observing the officers who were working the crime scene.

Douglas, part of which was closed between Grove and Hillside, reopened to traffic about five hours after the shooting. But Estelle remained closed at Douglas.

Ojile said there’s “no gang involvement that we can find” in connection with the shooting. The gun used in the incident has not been recovered.

There were six to eight people at the party, Ojile said.

The investigation “has been slow-moving,” he said.

Several people have been taken downtown for questioning, he said, and many others were interviewed at the scene. Anyone with information related to the incident is being asked to call the homicide unit at 316-268-4181 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.

The man’s death is the 14th homicide of the year in Wichita, Ojile said.

This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 6:50 AM with the headline "Man shot and killed near Douglas and Grove."