Mother of teenage girl describes moments leading to tragic home shooting

Seventeen-year-old Destiny Nelson spent the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday hanging out with friends like a typical teenager, her mother said.

Amber Daniel said she had no idea why someone would later kill her daughter at the family’s residence at Bull Creek Apartments.

“I don’t know where to start, “ the grieving mother said in an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer on Tuesday. “I mean Destiny, she was always smiling, she was a peacemaker, she always wanted people to be happy. She didn’t bother anybody; everybody loved my daughter.”

Nelson, a student dually enrolled at Early College Academy and Columbus State University, was shot and killed late Monday at the apartment complex. Columbus Police Lt. Greg Touchberry said patrol officers were called to the scene at 11 B Creek Way around 10:40 p.m. When they arrived at the location near Woodruff Farm Road, they found Nelson suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Nelson was pronounced dead at Midtown Medical Center at 11:53 p.m., said Muscogee County Deputy Coroner Charles Newton. Her body will be sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab in Atlanta for an autopsy.

Maj. Gil Slouchick said Tuesday afternoon that police believe the shooting was in retaliation for the killing of 22-year-old Dominique Devonte Horton near Cusseta Road and 32nd Avenue. He said Nelson wasn’t involved in the Jan. 5 incident, and police believe it was a case of mistaken identity.

Daniel said she was at home with Nelson and three other daughters — ages 18, 11 and 9 months old — when the incident occurred. They were all getting ready for bed and someone knocked at the door.

She said Destiny was standing in the hallway. She didn’t go to the door, but asked: “Who is it?”

“There was no answer, and all of a sudden the bullets started sort of like firecrackers were going off,” she said. “And then my other daughter said, ‘Mama, I think somebody’s in the house, Destiny’s on the ground.’”

Daniel said it was a devastating moment for the entire family, and they want to know why the tragedy occurred. She said they lived at the apartment complex for about five years with no problems.

“We just normally stay in the house; we don’t bother anybody or have any issues like that,” she said.

Daniel believes her daughter may have been an unintended victim, and she just wants the violence to stop in Columbus.

“… It wasn’t necessarily targeted toward her,” she said. “It could have just been the wrong identity. They might have been looking for somebody at the wrong place.

“... I feel like a lot of people feel like they have to get revenge,” she said. “But just because one person does you wrong doesn’t mean you have to hurt other people. You have to stop the cycle somewhere.”

‘You never think something like that would happen’

Cobe Johnson lives at Bull Creek Apartments across from the residence where Destiny Nelson was shot. She described her as a beautiful person inside and out.

“You never really saw her mad,” she said. “When she got mad, it wasn’t even for that long. It would be a quick second, and she’d go back to laughing.”

Johnson, whose mother used to babysit Nelson and her older sister, said the teen was visiting her and her family Monday night. She said the student left her apartment around 9 p.m. before heading home to 11 B Creek Way.

Johnson said she was still in her home when she heard a knock at her neighbor’s door followed by gunshots around 10:40 p.m. that sounded like firecrackers. She said they dropped to the floor, and first responders were on the scene about five minutes later.

She struggled to find the words to describe what she saw next. She said seeing the teen wounded with multiple gunshot wounds in her stomach was a tragedy she didn’t expect to witness.

She said the girl was still conscious and talking immediately after the incident.

“It’s no way you can explain it,” the neighbor said. “You never think something like that would happen.”

‘Outstanding student’

Nelson matriculated at Waddell Elementary School, and then Midland Middle School for sixth and seventh grade. She attended Fort Middle School for eighth grade.

Nelson also participated in many extracurricular activities, her mother said. She belonged to the Early College Academy Debate Club, National Junior Honor Society and Students Against Destructive Decisions. She was also a Delta Gem and an active member of Pitts Chapel AME Church in Midland, where she served in the youth choir and as a junior usher.

“She was an outstanding student and an outstanding person,” Early College dean Susan Willard told the Ledger-Enquirer in a phone interview.

A crisis team of Muscogee County School District counselors joined the Early College staff to console the school’s approximately 170 students as they arrived Tuesday morning, Willard said.

“We’re just trying to make the best of a terrible situation,” she said. “Keep our school family and Destiny’s family in your thoughts and prayers.”

Natalia Temesgen is an English instructor at CSU. She said Nelson was in her English 1101 class, and she was shocked to learn of the tragedy.

“I was totally devastated to learn of Destiny’s death,” Temesgen said, while sitting at her office on Tuesday. “... I’ve only had her in my class for a week and she had already made a positive impression on me. She comes in early. She was doing the things they need to do for extra credit already. She had this sort of like smile and kind of confidence about her where you could just tell she was comfortable in her skin.

“She was there to learn, she was serious,” she said. “I think about all the things I thought she could achieve just in a semester, let alone the rest of her life, and I can’t believe she’s not coming to class tomorrow, you know, she’s gone.”

CSU university relations director Greg Hudgison said in an email to the Ledger-Enquirer, “Please keep her family and friends in your thoughts and prayers. Her faculty and other officials are being notified. Remember that the Counseling Center is always available at 706-507-8740 for any students who need their services.”

This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Mother of teenage girl describes moments leading to tragic home shooting."