Reward offered for tips on student’s fatal shooting in ‘botched gang assassination’
Destiny Nelson died for nothing.
The 17-year-old student had nothing to do with the Jan. 5, 2017, fatal shooting of Dominque Horton near the 300 block of 32nd Avenue, yet she was gunned down in retaliation 11 days later at Bull Creek Apartments, 11-B Creek Way, about 10:30 at night.
“The investigation indicated that Ms. Nelson’s death was due to a botched gang retaliation for the shooting death of Dominque Horton,” Columbus police reported Thursday as they offered a $2,000 reward for tips in the case.
“Investigators have received very little cooperation in regards to getting people to come forward with information about the shooting death of Destiny Nelson,” they wrote in a news release.
So now they’re using a newly established reward fund seeded with a $10,000 donation from a local company that chose to remain unnamed, said police Maj. J.D. Hawk, who heads the department’s investigative bureau.
Nelson was an accomplished student with a bright future that was cut short for no reason, Hawk said: “She is a totally innocent person,” with no connection at all to Horton’s homicide.
Anyone with information is asked to call the bureau’s homicide unit at 706-225-4254. Anyone who would like to contribute to the reward fund may contact Hawk at 706-225-3400.
This story was originally published November 1, 2018 at 12:04 PM.