Authorities in South Carolina have arrested two suspects in connection with a 2020 shooting incident where a seven-year-old boy who was playing video games at home was fatally struck by the gunfire.
The Tuesday arrest of Travon Wilson, 24, and 21-year-old Kwatez Carter, comes more than a year after little Knowledge Sims was killed. The fatal shooting happened on April 29, 2020, PEOPLE reported. The minor and his 13-year-old sister, Adontis, were playing video games at home when they were both hit by gunfire.
The siblings were subsequently taken to a hospital for medical attention. Adontis survived the shooting, but Knowledge died from his injuries.
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And following the shooting, investigators issued a public plea for leads to help them identify and apprehend the suspects. Investigators established the multiple bullets that were fired into the home came from at least two different firearms.
“Help us bring the people responsible for this cowardly act of violence to justice,” Columbia Police Department Chief W.H. Holbrook said in a statement in the aftermath of the incident. “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.”
There were seven children and two adults in the home when the suspects opened fire. And authorities said they believe Knowledge wasn’t the shooters’ intended target. The two suspects have since been charged with killing Knowledge. They also face a slew of other charges including 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, PEOPLE reported.
“This [case] tugged at the heartstrings of every single person in this building from the very beginning,” Holbrook said during a press conference on Wednesday, adding that people not coming forward to provide information on the shooting was a worry for investigators. “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.’”
Carter was already being detained for a separate shooting incident in 2020 when authorities brought charges against him in connection with Knowledge’s killing.
