As we often see in these cases, dad DEANDRE KELLEY had a history of domestic violence that the authorities did not take seriously. Charges should NOT be automatically dismissed when victims do not show up in court, because typically it's because they are being threatened, directly or indirectly, and they know their safety is not assured.
Yet despite all of Daddy's history of violence and drug/alcohol abuse, the unidentified neighbor minimizes his responsibility (as is typical of male violence) by claiming (without any particular evidence) that this sh** head is "suffering too." I'm tired of all the sympathy going out to killers and abusers. Not a word here about the neighbor feeling sympathy for all the suffering this guy's victims have suffered over the years.
And notice that Daddy may get just THREE YEARS in prison for killing this child. Typical killer daddy coddling.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20140112/NEWS01/301120070/Father-custody-after-11-year-old-fatally-shot?nclick_check=1
He shot his own child'
Father in custody after 11-year-old dies
Jan. 12, 2014
Written by
Brenna R. Kelly
SEDAMSVILLE — As her parents argued outside early Sunday, 11-year-old Shanti Lanza ran upstairs to her mother’s bedroom.
Her father wanted to come inside, but knowing he was drunk, her mother refused to let him in.
Shanti’s father finally left, but not before firing several gunshots into the air, family members said. One of them entered a second-story window of the Delhi Avenue home and hit the little girl named Achauntiara. The child, called Shanti, dreamed of becoming a singer and dancer.
Her siblings, neighbors and paramedics all tried to save Shanti, but she died at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital soon after the 3 a.m. shooting.
About seven hours later, her father, Deandre Kelley, 34, turned himself in to Cincinnati Police. He is charged with reckless homicide.
Shanti’s is the sixth and youngest homicide victim in Cincinnati so far in 2014.
The incident began Saturday night when Kelley and the girl’s mother, Kristina Lanza, had an argument, said Anita Lanza, the girl’s grandmother. Kelley left the home but returned just before 3 a.m. and was intoxicated, Anita Lanza said.
That’s when police say he fired the shots from a brown revolver and took off in his white 1992 Mazda.
Kristina Lanza’s three other children were also in the house, as well as some of the children’s friends who were sleeping over.
A neighbor who refused to give her name Sunday said she awoke to the sound of four gunshots. She saw the car leave and then ran to the house.
“The teenage daughter was screaming outside and coming over asking me to help her, that her dad shot her little sister,” the neighbor said.
When she got to the house, Kristina was lying on the porch and another neighbor was helping the little girl in the upstairs bedroom. The second neighbor also ran upstairs.
“All I did was comfort them and pray with them and hold her up so she could breathe up her nose and out of her mouth so she didn’t pass out,” she said of trying to help Shanti.
She then went to Children’s Hospital where she met up with the family and learned that the girl had died.
The neighbor said she worried that Kelley would take his own life when he discovered that Shanti had died.
“I’m sure he’s suffering too, knowing that he shot his own child,” she said.
Kelley was held Sunday afternoon in the Hamilton County jail. He faces up to three years in prison if convicted. He has been arrested several times in Cincinnati, mostly on traffic, drug and alcohol charges, court records show.
He has also been charged with domestic violence against Kristina Lanza three times in the last 12 years, but each charge was eventually dismissed.
In March 2002, Kelley was arrested after he hit Lanza and slammed her into the hood of his car, according to an arrest report. In December 2004, Kristina Lanza told police that Kelley punched her in the head and nose and grabbed her arm.
Both charges were dropped when Lanza did not come to court, records show.
In the most recent domestic violence case, Lanza told police in November 2007 that she received cut on her leg when Kelley threw a plate at her. A judge then granted Lanza an order of protection, which required Kelley to stay 500 feet away from her. That charge was also dismissed, though records did not state why.
Shanti’s grandmother said she planned to attending the School for Performing Arts next year to pursue her love of singing and dancing.
Shanti was in fifth grade at Riverside Academy, said Anita Lanza.
Shanti was “always with a smile for everyone,” the grandmother said. The family is starting a fund at Fifth Third Bank on Monday in Shanti Lanza’s name to help with funeral expenses, she said.
The neighbor who helped the family after the shooting said drug dealing and violence have become pervasive in the Sedamsville and East Price Hill area. Her own house has been struck by bullets several times, she said.
“We need a lot of prayer and a lot of peace in this neighborhood,” she said. “We need a big blessing.”