Destacia Straughn and her two-year-old daughter Kenacia were killed in a shooting Sunday around 11 p.m. at an apartment near 107th Plaza and Ida Street, which also left three women in critical condition, according to Omaha Police investigators.
Karolyn Roby says she is thankful her daughter, Kachelle Roby, managed to get help after Dontevous Loyd shot four adults, some who were mothers, and a child.
Loyd also wounded Jamie Latner, 18, and Larrion Williams, 22.
Her daughter, 22, is at Creighton Medical University and in critical condition, the mother says.
“She took off and ran up the stairs and hid in the closet and he came up the stairs and he found her in the closet and she started begging for her life and he still shot her,” Karolyn Roby says.
The mothers says her daughter told her she tried to block the shots aimed at her neck, but says Loyd shot her twice in the neck and once in the back.
Kachelle Roby told her mother she pretended to play dead and Loyd left.
That is when she ran for help.
But it was too late for the toddler and Straughn, who family and friends say she was expecting another child.
Family members and friends are in shock as details emerge.
"I was just heartbroken. Who would ever do this to a baby?” says a cousin of the toddler, who asked to remain anonymous. “Destacia was real nice. She was real sweet. She always laughed. I just don't understand who would do this to a baby though."
Kenacia's father, Kentrell Amerson, says he last saw his only child at a supermarket Saturday.
"That's my heart. I just wake up to her. I just miss my baby like he took something from me. He took my soul. He took everything I have,” Amerson says.
Investigators consider Loyd to be armed and dangerous and ask the public to not approach or attempt to make contact with him.
Anyone who has information relating to the homicides is asked to call detectives at (402) 444-5656.
