Walter Gaines III, 23, allegedly fatally shot his girlfriend Shaquenda Walker, 24, and her mother Deborah Walker, 55, before taking his own life. Shaquenda’s two children, ages two and four, were inside the Richmond, Virginia apartment (Oliver Crossing Apartments) with the corpses for an unknown number of days.
Thank goodness these babies had the presence of mind on Thursday morning, Feb. 16. 2017 to knock on their neighbor’s door to tell them their mother and grandmother would not wake up.
Erica Crumble, Shaquenda’s cousin, tells media that Gaines had threatened Shaquenda’s life before: “If they tell you they’re going to do something to you, you just have to believe it. Leave him alone. They’re going to do what they say they’re going to do.”
The bodies were covered in blood. The medical examiner will determine the approximate time, cause and manner of the victims’ deaths.
“They witnessed murder,” the family pastor, Rev. Sharon Broaddus from St. Paul’s Baptist Church, tells WTVR. “Their bodies have been in there two days and it has to have an effect on the children.”
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney made a statement from the crime scene: “It’s a tough day. You never want to have to come out to a scene of anything of this sort. My heart goes out to the children who were on the scene and I hope that they are in the best care after something like this has happened.”
Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham called on the community to stop the violence.
“At some point, folks have to be tired of this. At some point those folks who are out here creating this crime have to say, ‘when are we going to stop being stupid,'” Chief Durham said. “This has to stop. This is not the City of Richmond. We experienced this 20 years ago and we don’t want to go back to where we were then.”
Family members and Rev. Broaddus said the brother and sister are now being cared for by other relatives.
