COLUMBUS – A police investigator says he believes the people who killed two young children along with a man at a Southeast Side apartment complex a week ago knew the children were present and may have targeted them along with the man.
The statement came as police released photos of a vehicle they believe was used as the getaway car in the incident.
TRIPLE HOMICIDE UPDATE:
2 children & an adult were gunned down on 12/7/21. The suspects were aware they were shooting at kids.
Attached are photos of the suspect vehicle.
Info-please contact Det. Kelley at tkelley@columbuspolice.org 614-645-4730 or @OhioCrime 614-461-TIPS pic.twitter.com/R3EReHvQer
— Columbus Division of Police (@ColumbusPolice) December 14, 2021
Nine-year-old Demitrius Wall’neal and 6-year-old Londynn Wall’neal were shot along with 22-year-old Charles Wade on Dec. 7 as they sat in a car in the parking lot of the Winchester Lakes apartment complex.
Police initially considered Wade the intended victim, but Detective Terry Kelley said Tuesday the young children might’ve been targeted as well.
He called on anyone with firsthand knowledge of the case to come forward.
Man shot at convenience store is city’s 192nd homicide
A 25-year-old man shot while at a gas pump at a Southeast Side convenience store Tuesday night became the 192nd homicide victim of 2021 in Columbus.
Surveillance video showed Timothy Wash pull up and park at the gas pump on the north end of the lot at the United Dairy Farmers store at the 2660 Block of Noe Bixby Road at approximately 9:12 p.m., Sgt. Edward Powell III of the Columbus police Homicide Unit said.
Shortly after, a vehicle pulls up to the adjacent gas pump and without provocation, a passenger gets out of the vehicle and fires several rounds into the driver’s side of Wash’s vehicle before the suspects drive away in an unknown direction of travel, Powell said.
Columbus police officers responding to the shooting and bystanders administered first aid until Truro Township paramedics arrived and took Wash to Mount Carmel East Hospital, where he died at 9:39 p.m., Powell said
Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call the Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS (8477).
Couple charged with 5-year-old daughter’s death
A Northeast Side couple was arrested Tuesday on charges related to the death of their 5-year-old daughter, who was killed in an accidental shooting in July.
Antwan Robinson and Breana Mathews were indicted Tuesday by a Franklin County grand jury on charges, including involuntary manslaughter and child endangering, in connection with the fatal shooting of Serenity Robinson on July 31, Sgt. Eric Pilya of the Homicide Unit said.
A caller stated that his daughter shot herself inside the family home on Via Da Vinci Court.
Serenity died later at Nationwide Children’s hospital.
Student brings gun to high school
Officials at Centennial High School were extra-vigilant Wednesday morning after a 15-year-old student brought a gun and 29 rounds of ammunition to the school on Bethel Road Tuesday morning.
Police say members of the school’s security staff were contacted at around 7:41 a.m. by a student who told them another student had a gun in his backpack in the school, Det. Melanie Stevens of the Columbus police Gun Crimes Unit said.
Security staff members located the student inside the school and searched his backpack, where a gun was found.
Police responded and the gun was removed from the backpack. It was found to be loaded with 29 bullets, Stevens said.
The teen was arrested and charged with conveying and possessing a gun in a school zone and carrying concealed weapons, Stevens said.
The incident occurred just days after a student was arrested for having a gun and more than 40 rounds of ammunition at Mifflin High School.