Roommates, domestic violence is nothing to play with and we are heartbroken to report that a 17-year-old girl from Dayton, Ohio sadly lost her life this week.
According to WHIO-TV, a CBS-affiliated station in Dayton, LaShonda Childs was taken to Grandview Medical Center after being shot in the head. She was confirmed deceased early Wednesday morning and her ex-boyfriend, a 28-year-old man named Trendell Goodwin, was arrested and charged with two counts of murder, three counts of felonious assault and two counts of improper discharge of a firearm.
LaShonda’s mother, Nina Childs, told reporters that her daughter and Goodwin started dating last September after he lied about his age. She said he told LaShonda he was 20 years old, and shortly after he started showing signs of abusive behavior.
“He was the type of guy who would call you 70 times a day,” Nina said. “Nonstop. It was aggravating as well as annoying and scary.” She added that he once bit her so hard that she started bleeding and would steal LaShonda’s phones.
According to WHIO-TV, LaShonda and her family went to the police for help on multiple occasions. At the time of her passing, Goodwin was on probation for “a misdemeanor assault case against Childs and was ordered not to see her when he allegedly pulled her hair and wig, set it on fire and threw it at her causing burns last month.”
Less than two weeks before her death, LaShonda posted “domestic violence is real” on her Facebook page.
“All jokes aside tho, everybody want a crazy n**** until he got you hiding & dodging bullets. If you see the signs don’t ignore it y’all. Domestic violence is real not just in movies,” she posted. “This n**** done broke several phones, busted windows out, followed me from my house to wherever, bit me several times, threw me into walls, made me walk places with a gun to my back, put all my stuff in a sewer, held me hostage in a house & didn’t let me leave, sat & waited at abandoned houses & watched me, pulled my whole sew in off leaving bald spots all that, now he done set my hair on fire & shot my house up that ain’t even half the s*** he did but I’m telling y’all that ain’t where it’s at If y’all see the signs don’t ignore it i should’ve left that n**** a long time ago now I ain’t even safe in my own house..”
On Sept. 13, 2018, Goodwin caused “burn injuries” to Childs during a robbery attempt at Childs’ North Upland Avenue residence, according to an affidavit and statement of facts written by a Dayton police detective.
“Mr. Goodwin caught Ms. Childs on her front porch and tried to pull her by the hair,” Det. Justin Ellis wrote in an effort to establish probable cause for an arrest warrant. “Her hair had been a wig and was pulled off. After noticing it was a wig Mr. Goodwin lit the wig on fire and threw it onto Ms. Childs causing burns to her left bicep.
“The burning sensation caused her to drop her phone. Mr. Goodwin picked the phone up and fled the scene. Mr. Goodwin has been sending threatening comments to Ms. Childs and Ms. Childs’ friends and relatives since this incident.”
Nina said this has been “devastating” to her. “It’s very devastating,” she said. “It’s something that will be devastating for the rest of my life.”
