At least three people, including two young siblings, were fatally shot in a shocking, unprovoked shooting while sitting in a parked car, according to Ohio police.
Columbus police identified the three victims as Charles Wade, 22, Demitrius Wall’neal, 9, and his 6-year-old sister Londynn Wall’neal. According to Columbus Police, the three victims were pronounced dead at the scene after officers responded to a report of gunshots at around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday.
Two gunmen approached the trio’s car, which was parked outside the Winchester Lakes Apartments, and opened fire at them “without any warning or provocation,” Columbus police said in a statement.
After the shooting, both suspects reportedly hopped into a waiting vehicle, which was driven by a third suspect, and fled the scene. As of Wednesday morning, Columbus police, who said they are still actively looking, hadn’t made any arrests.
“We are still actively looking,” Sgt. James Fuqua said of the heartless suspects who had a “blatant” disregard for human life. “I get tired of going out publicly and talking about senseless violent crimes, especially homicides. It has to stop.”
The older victim, Charles Wade, was not the two siblings’ biological father but was known to them and their mother, Fuqua said.
No description of neither the suspects nor their car was immediately available. However, investigators said at least two gunmen opened fire into the vehicle. The Columbus Dispatch reported that the victims’ car was left riddled with bullet holes.
A woman was wailing in the background as LaShanna Potts, a Columbus police Assistant Chief was speaking to reporters at a press conference outside the apartment complex, the newspaper reported.
“They are babies,” Potts said of the young victims. “They deserve to be here. This mother is grieving, this family is devastated … There is nothing I can say to this family that will bring them closure.”
Potts assured the public that the police would track down the “monsters” responsible for the triple homicide.
“We have two young kids who have been murdered,” Potts said. “This is unacceptable. I am pissed. It’s getting tiresome. This gun violence has got to stop.”
The fatal shootings raised Columbus’s homicide count to 186, according to police. That’s a single-year record with more than three weeks remaining in 2021, the Dispatch reported.
The two siblings, Demitrius and Londynn Wall’neal, were students in Canal Winchester Local Schools. The school officials have sent a letter to parents, the newspaper reported.
“It’s senseless,” he said. “I’m pissed as well.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact CPD’s Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or [email protected] or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS (8477).
