COLUMBUS — Two young children killed along with a man in a shooting at an Ohio apartment complex were remembered in a prayer vigil over the weekend amid calls for an end to the violence.
Authorities said 9-year-oldDemitrius Wall’neal and 6-year-old Londynn Wall’neal were shot Tuesday night along with 22-year-old Charles Wade as they sat in a car in the parking lot of the Winchester Lakes apartment complex on the southeast side of Columbus.
On a cloudy, windy Saturday afternoon, Malissa Thomas-St. Clair and Jackie Casimire engraved the letters “D” and “L” on gold, heart-shaped padlocks to the sound of gospel music and then hooked them on the Rich Street bridge in downtown Columbus as about 40 people looked on.
“This is for Demetrius! “This is for Londynn!” Thomas-St. Clair said at the “Locks of Love” event held by the support group Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children. Group member Rhonda Clayborn said the locks represent all of the “angels” that have died from the result of gun violence.
“We say no more!” Thomas-St. Clair said. “Do you understand me? We say no more!”
Police said two armed suspects had approached the vehicle and opened fire “without any apparent warning or provocation” before a third suspect drove them away. Columbus homicide detective Terry Kelly said the shooting appeared to be “a targeted assassination.”
Police Chief Elaine Bryant and other authorities have called on anyone with information to come forward. “This isn’t snitching,” Bryant said. “This is humanity.”
Seretha Terry, who lost her 25-year-old son, Michael Fair, in a drive-by shooting in September 2020, wore a white and purple hoodie that read, “Forever in my heart, son” with pictures of Fair on the back. The Gahanna resident said prayer and spending time with other mothers in the group has helped her heal, but has yet to bring closure.
“I won’t have closure ’til there is justice for my son,” Terry said.
Also addressing the group was LaMona Marshall, whose 25-year-old son, Roberto Marshall, was shot and killed as he walked home from work in September 2017. Marshall, 49, has created a foundation to aid victims and families but still can’t bring herself to visit her son’s gravesite or leaf through photos of him.
“It’s nice to come down here, and it helps because of the other mothers,” Marshall said. “You never think it will happen to you.”
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