Knowledge Sims.Photo: Columbia Police Department
Two South Carolina men are in custody for the shooting death of 7-year-old boy Knowledge Sims.
“Help us bring the people responsible for this cowardly act of violence to justice,” Columbia Police Department Chief W.H. “Skip” Holbrook saidin a statementfollowing the tragedy. “We are asking and appealing to your heart to do what is right, and do it for Knowledge Sims. When is enough, enough? If the murder of a 7-year-old does not put a lump in your throat and tear at your heart, I don’t know what will.”
Nine people were home at the time of the killing—two adults and seven children. Throughout the investigation, the Columbia PD has not believed that Knowledge was the intended target.
Travon Wilson, Kwatez Carter.Columbia Police Department
On Wednesday,Holbrook announcedthat crime scene evidence linked two men to the fatal shooting.
Travon Wilson, 24, and Kwatez Carter, 21, now face murder charges in the killing of Knowledge, in addition to charges of attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, discharging a firearm into a dwelling, and criminal conspiracy.
“This [case] tugged at the heartstrings of every single person in this building from the very beginning,” Holbrook told his communityin an emotional press conferenceWednesday, adding that investigators were frustrated with the lack of leads brought forward to find Knowledge’s killers. “This case has lingered because we have not had cooperation. We are better than this, and I just appeal to our citizens, we’ve got to say, ‘This is enough. It is absolutely enough.'”
The police department has not yet revealed an alleged motive for the crime.
It is unclear if either suspect has entered pleas to the charges against them, and PEOPLE was unable to determine if Wilson and Carter have retained attorneys who can speak on their behalf.
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Carter was in custody for a separate April 2020 shooting at the time that he was named a suspect in Knowledge’s murder.
The investigation into his murder remains active, police say, and more arrests are possible.
source: people.com
