COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Video of the fatal December triple shooting that took the lives of two young children and a man shows the gunmen waited for the kids to get into the car before opening fire, police say.
Demetrius Wall-Neal, 9, Londynn Wall-Neal, 6, and Charles Wade, 22, were shot and killed while inside a vehicle on the 6600 block of Kodiak Drive on Dec. 7.
Columbus police and Central Ohio Crime Stoppers had a news conference Thursday to discuss the case and present the video.
Det. Terry Kelley believes the killing was planned. “They waited for everybody to get into the car and that’s when they approached the vehicle. It’s one of the most cowardly homicides I’ve dealt with.
“They snuck up and emptied two full magazines into that car,” Det. Kelley said.
“This makes 93 days that I haven’t seen my kids, took them to school, cooked for them,” the children’s mother, Brittany, said. “I have never been away from my children this long. You monsters watch the children and Charles through that vehicle, and you still have no remorse.”
GRAPHIC: Video shows triple homicide shooting
Footage features graphic content. NBC4 has displayed the entire video to respect the wishes of the victims’ family, who wanted the footage in its entirety to be available in order to inform viewers of the callousness of the shooting.
Det. Terry Kelley said he has received tips from the community but still needs a tip from someone with direct knowledge of who the killers might be.
“The community is stepping up,” Det. Kelly said. “I am not going into the motives that we have. We have gotten considerably closer. I know a lot of people that are thought to be involved, but what I’m looking for is someone who has knowledge of this.”
Direct knowledge means the person who loaned vehicle shown in the video, who has the guns or who has heard the gunmen talk about what happened.
“I’ve heard a couple people say, ‘I’m not doing your job for you.’ But I’m asking for us to do this job together — because this has to be solved together,” Det. Kelley said. “I need the other people involved in this to come forward.”
The children’s grandmother — who didn’t want to be named — said she prayed for the lives of the shooters to be filled with one tragedy after another.
“Perhaps you choose to live by the no-snitching code,” she said, “But ‘no snitching’ doesn’t apply to a six and a nine year old — they aren’t part of the streets.”
She asked people who knew who the people were to borrow a phone, use a payphone, or send an anonymous letter to Crime Stoppers. That number is 614-461-TIPS or online at stopcrime.org.
The last public update in the case came Dec. 28 when Columbus police said community tips helped identify that there are multiple suspects in the shooting. Police also said they have identified two separate vehicles that conducted surveillance around the victims’ home the day of the shooting.
One week after the homicide, Kelley described the shooting as a planned attack.