Two Georgia women were found dead Tuesday afternoon in Columbus, according to Columbus police.
At 4:40PM, authorities identified both female victims, 51-year-old Ronisha McCaskay and 52-year-old Juantonja ‘Tonja’ Richmond.
Police said they got the call at noon, and it is being considered a double murder. They told us both women died from multiple gunshot wounds.
At the crime scene, there were dozens of neighbors and community members looking for answers, sending their condolences to the families and being questioned by police. But everyone fell silent when a family member realized two of his loved ones were no longer alive.
“Oh, oh, oh… my wife,” an unidentified man cried out.
That gut-wrenching sound was from a man who was just told by police that two of his loved ones died.
Crime scene investigators paid close attention to a white SUV parked in a driveway on Clay Street.
Tennilly Miller lives a few houses down from where it all happened, “I heard gun shots around 10:50, 11:00 this morning. I looked out my window, and they were like ‘boom, boom, boom boom, boom, boom.’”
Miller said that two women live in the home.
“I just see them come up and down the streets, I might see them right here, come walking with the kids,” she explained. “…come walk, then you don’t see them anymore.”
Another neighbor and Columbus native, Treasure Johnson, said she experiences shootings in her neighborhood often, but she said this one is affecting her differently, “They said two young girls in the pickup truck were found shot, over ten shot fired. Me, going to check my mail, I honestly didn’t hear the shots. I just walked out to this.”
“Who told you that?” Williams asked Johnson.
“The firemen,” she responded.
Miller explained these murders are hitting, literally and figuratively, too close to home. She just lost her 24-year-old son to gun violence this past December.
“They need to do something about these guns,” Miller said. “These young people with these guns… with the gun laws or something. This is just getting out of hand.”
“They go harder y’all go harder, then the harder they go,” Johnson said. “It’s gonna keep getting worse. That’s all I see.”
Williams asked Johnson to clarify what she meant.
“The police are going after them, and they’re trying to make it like they’re badder than the police,” Johnson explained “It’s just a constant war.”
There is no word on any suspects at this time. However, anyone with information on this ongoing investigation should contact Sgt. A Williams at 706-225-4329.
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