Wichita city leaders call on community after 1-year-old killed in shooting

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Wichita City Councilman Mike Hoheisel spoke at Tuesday morning’s city council meeting, upset about Monday night’s shooting that killed a one-year-old and injured two women.

“Evil, stupid. It was just... It was nonsense,” Hoheisel said. “It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever..”

Wichita police say the toddler killed Monday night is the fourth child that has died due to gun violence in Wichita so far this year. In 2023, there were five total. With only two months into the new year, Mayor Lily Wu is concerned about the number of violent crimes, involving both adults and youth, in the city.

“Resolving issues with violence or fatalities is not the answer in our community,” said Mayor Wu. “And we need to do better as a community.”

Kristi Barton-Edwards, a former prosecutor and professor at Newman University says children face many safety issues that weren’t so common before.

“Kids today have to worry about bullets flying,” said Edwards. “And that’s scary. They shouldn’t have to live like that.”

Councilman Hoheisel shared a personal conversation he had on the night of the shooting, one he wants the community to be aware of in a time of tragedy.

“About the same time this incident was happening, I was at a neighborhood meeting. We were joking around about things that keep me up at night and somebody made a joke about my one-year-old keeping me up at night… which is true. This person won’t have a one-year-old to keep them up,” he said.