Photo courtesy of Columbus Police Department.
Twenty-four-year-old Travon Wilson and Kwatez Carter, 21, have been charged with the murder of Knowledge Sims in Columbia, South Carolina. Sims was murdered on April 29, 2020. Carter and Wilson were arrested on October 27.
Knowledge Sims and his 13-year-old sister Adontis were in their living room playing video games when gunfire erupted, and bullets flew into their home. Little Knowledge and Adontis were both shot and taken to the hospital, where the 7-year-old passed away. His sister required several surgeries.
Adontis was in the hospital until after her little brother’s funeral and wasn’t told about his death until her release. Her aunt Jasmine Sanders said that she feared for her life due to online threats and struggles over having missed her chance to say goodbye to her baby brother.
Ballistic testing determined that at least twelve rounds were fired into the home by two different weapons. Two adults and seven more children were in the house when the shooting occurred but were not injured. Police had no leads for several months before making the arrests. Evidence at the scene was connected back to Carter and Wilson, according to the police.
Carter and Wilson have been charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, attempted murder and murder, criminal conspiracy, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and discharging a firearm into a dwelling.
Columbia Police Department Chief W.H. Skip Holbrook said in a press conference that the arrests took so long because the community didn’t cooperate with authorities and expressed his frustration.
“This case tugged at the heartstrings of every single person in this building from the very beginning,” Holbrook said. “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.'”
Authorities have given no motive for the shootings but noted that more arrests are possible.