Child, suspect dead, 2 others injured after shooting, standoff in Kansas City, Kansas

A 7-year-old girl was found dead and a 3-year-old boy injured after a man barricaded himself inside in a Kansas City, Kansas, home Wednesday morning, a spokesman for the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office said.

The suspect, who was also found dead, had barricaded himself inside the home after a shooting earlier in the morning at a nearby park that left a woman critically injured, said Wyandotte County Undersheriff Bob Gunja. The relationship between all the victims and the suspect is currently under investigation.

The shooting occurred shortly after 7 a.m. at Welborn Park, near North 55th Street and Jodee Lane, Gunja said.

A neighbor who lives across the street from the park called police reporting that shots had been fired in the area.

Arriving law enforcement officers found the woman, in her late 20s, who had been shot once in the head and once in the abdomen, Gunja said. She was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

“We don’t know what started the whole problem at all,” Gunja said.

The suspect had fled from the scene of the shooting in a newer gold SUV.

About 8:45 a.m., members of the sheriff’s office went to a nearby apartment complex near North 55th Street and Everett Avenue.

“As we were approaching the (apartments), we heard three gunshots come from inside one of the apartments. That building is a fourplex. We immediately secured the building,” Gunja said.

The sheriff’s department requested the help of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department’s Special Operations Unit, who used a robot to enter the apartment about an hour after the gunshots were heard coming from inside.

Once inside, police found the children and the suspect. The suspect and girl were dead and the boy, who had been shot, was taken to a hospital. His condition was not available.

It took officers an hour to breach the apartment because of the time needed to get the Special Operations Unit paged out to get the armored vehicle, Gunja said.

“Unfortunately there were lives lost today and we will be praying for their family and friends,” the sheriff’s office said on Twitter.

The Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Unit is investigating the shooting. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).

This story was originally published December 1, 2021 at 12:37 PM.