COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Division of Police has released images of the vehicle that was involved in the fatal shooting of two young siblings and a 22-year-old man last week.
Twenty-two-year-old Charles Wade and 9-year-old Demetrius and 6-year-old Londynn Wall’Neal were shot as they sat in a car at the Winchester Lakes apartment complex on the southeast side of Columbus on Dec. 7.
Police said two armed suspects approached the vehicle and opened fire “without any apparent warning or provocation” before taking off in a car with a third suspect.
Detective Terry Kelley said the shooting appeared to be “a targeted assassination.”
On Tuesday, police said they are searching for a 2010-2012 black Nissan Altima. The vehicle was seen at the apartment complex the day of the shooting.
Kelley said the car did not have a license plate on the rear bumper, indicating the shooting was a planned attack.
Police later determined a second vehicle was involved in the shooting. Investigators are also searching for a 2005-10 Jeep Grand Cherokee with dark tinted windows.
Police initially said they believed Wade was the intended target, but Kelley said the children may have been targeted as well, although he’s not completely sure whether their deaths were intended or the shooters just didn’t care that the children were present.
“What I can tell you is I believe that the shooters in this case absolutely knew that those children were in the car,” Kelley said. “Whether they were the target of that shooting or not, I can’t say 100 percent for sure, but I do believe that they knew they were in the car.”
Kelley said they have the information about what led up to the shooting and what happened, but now they need somebody from the community with firsthand knowledge to come forward.
"I would hope that our community would band together and say that this is not OK. I would hope our community would come forward and say that we will not allow this violence to happen to these kids," Kelley said.
In the days following their death, the siblings’ grandmother, Jessica Jones, remembered the two children in a fond light. Demetrius, she said, hoped to play football for Ohio State one day. Londynn, on the other hand, already had her own lip gloss line up and running.
Detective Terry Kelley has asked anyone with information about the shooting to call his personal number at 614-778-9706.