A 14-year-old boy was found dead in a west Wichita apartment after a standoff that began Sunday evening, and his mother was hospitalized after being shot by an officer.
Officers were called to an apartment complex in the 8400 block of West Central to check on the boy’s welfare. They had no response after knocking on the door several times, and they saw an exit hole in an exterior wall of the apartment and an expended bullet outside the doorway. They went into the apartment and saw a 43-year-old woman with a handgun, with a shotgun nearby. The officers left the apartment and police negotiators were called to the scene. Police negotiated with the woman for hours and a SWAT team was sent to the apartment complex. Police said the woman refused to put down the handgun and SWAT officers fired two shots She was taken to a hospital in critical condition and the boy was then found in a bedroom of the apartment, dead from an apparent gunshot wound to his upper body.
Police have identified the teenager as Claude Hodges. The woman was identified as Claude’s mother, 43-year-old Kylee Hodges. They said Claude’s father had called police when the teen failed to arrive at a designated exchange point.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation will look into the officer-involved shooting as police investigate the boy’s death.
[ photo: KWCH ]
