A father with a known history of domestic violence went on a rampage on Friday night, killing his two young daughters before shooting hims...
A father with a known history of domestic violence went on a rampage on Friday night, killing his two young daughters before shooting himself dead.
Aaron D. Williams, 32, from Columbus, Ohio shot his two little girls in their apartment on the city's Far West Side.
Officers were called out to their block at around 10:22pm on Friday when neighbors heard arguing.
Sisters Alyse, 6, and Ava Williams, 9, were shot dead by their father Aaron D. Williams, 32
Police were called to the home after neighbors heard gunshots and found the little girls suffering from gunshot wounds
The police did not manage to get there in time and as they arrived heard gunshots ring out only to find six-year-old Alyse Williams and her nine-year-old sister, Ava, had been shot.
Their father, Aaron D. Williams, was also found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound according to the Columbus Dispatch. He was pronounced dead by suicide at 11:32pm.
The girls were taken to OhioHealth Doctors Hospital and both of them passed away shortly after midnight within half an hour of one another.
'The girls, they were just so bright and full of energy,' said Erica Osborn, a family friend.
The girls were both transported to Doctor’s West Hospital where they were pronounced dead early on Saturday morning
'The girls, they were just so bright and full of energy,' Erica Osborn, a family friend said
The girls were both transported to Doctor’s West Hospital where they were pronounced dead early on Saturday morning
'Every time I knocked on the door to drop a meal off or pick one up, they would come running. The first thing they tell you is that they love you. I just cannot believe they're gone,' Osborn said.
'They were part of a loving family, and this was very unexpected. From every angle we could tell, their father loved them. I just can't imagine. I don't know how he did it. I don't know how he was able to do this to them,' she continued.
'To lose everybody in one night...,' Osborn said. 'I can't believe it.'
'Our hearts break for their devastated mother, and all who loved them,' Columbus police Chief Thomas Quinlan said in a statement on Saturday.
Pictured Left to Right: Alyse, Ava and mother Vanecia Shameer Kirkland, right
The little girls, Ava, 9, and Alyse, 6, were said to the best of friends
'Behind every badge is a human — a mother, father, sister or brother,' Quinlan said. 'And while we have a job to do — a job we signed up for — we hurt too. We grieve with these families,' Quinlan noted.
He said he is working to make sure the officers who responded to the call have the support they need.
Williams had faced previous domestic violence charges in the past and had been charged by Columbus police in September 2018, with intent to harm and assault to which he pleaded guilty.
He was given a three-day suspended sentence at the time.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the girls' mother, Vanecia Shameer Kirkland, pay for funeral expenses.
It's not known where the children's mother, Vanecia Shameer Kirkland, was at the time of the shooting
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