Owner of neighboring business speaks out after small child critically injured because of unsecured gun

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - The owner of an auto center in southeast Wichita is still processing last week’s incident in which a four-year-old girl was critically injured in a neighboring business after shooting herself by accident.

Wichita police said this happened after the girl got hold of an unsecured gun. Police arrested a woman for child endangerment in connection with the shooting that happened last Friday in the area of Harry and Hillside.

Kansas Tire and Wheel Auto Center Owner Alejanro Peñas is speaking out about what happened late last week close to his shop.

“You don’t expect a little child to get involved in these kinds of situations,” he said. “You know, we were surprised by what happened.”

Peñas said he’s worried that the incident is giving the wrong impression about the community that lives and works in the south Wichita neighborhood. He said the incident was accidental and doesn’t consider it a shooting, indicating that implies that a violent crime occurred, which wasn’t the case.

“From my perspective, I felt like the misinformation and the way people put it out there, that’s what makes the area look bad,” he said.

Peñas said the conversation should focus on what can be done to prevent such incidents from happening. What happened in south Wichita on Friday is the third incident in Wichita since February in which a child under the age of 10 was shot because of an unsecured firearm -- the other two incidents were deadly.

Wichita police are issuing a reminder that free gun locks are available, and they’re calling on gun owners to make sure their guns are stored safely.

“The bottom line is, you in the general public do have the right to own a firearm,” WPD Captain Aaron Moses said earlier this week. “But part of that obligation is to make sure you handle it and maintain it and keep it safely.”

That’s a similar message that Peñas shared, stressing the importance of awareness.

“Just be conscious about how we keep our guns, our stuff, who can reach and who cannot,” he said. “It’s just more self-awareness.”

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