Des Moines school shooter says he murdered two because he didn’t want to go home in a pine box
Back in January of this year, a then 18-year-old Preston Walls shot and killed 18-year-old Gionni Dameron and 16-year-old Rashad Carr. This happened in a common area of the Starts Right Here Charter School in Des Moines, Iowa.
Starts Right Here is a charter school that specializes in helping at risk youth of high school age. The school was founded by rapper Will Keeps as a way of trying to keep kids out of the gang life that Keeps himself experienced. Keeps was also injured in the shooting and recovered from his injuries.
Prior to the shooting, Walls had been ordered to wear an ankle monitor for an unrelated weapons charge. 16 minutes before the shooting, Walls cut off the ankle monitor.
Walls was armed with a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol that had an extended magazine. The magazine held 31 rounds, and only three were remaining after the shooting.
The shooting was believed to be gang-related, but both victims’ families deny the victims had any gang affiliation.
Late last month, Walls went to trial. His defense was he was scared for his own life when he gunned down the two teenage victims. His defense attorney added, “Preston decided he didn’t want to go home to his family in a pine box.” The defense alleges Walls was protecting himself against some kind of gang retaliation.
Again, both victims’ families deny the victims had any gang involvement. Walls fired at least 28 bullets from his gun. Even if the victims were involved in a gang, murdering two students and injuring the school’s administrator isn’t exactly the brilliant idea he may have thought it was. There’s no such thing as premeditated self-defense.
Walls claimed he was being bullied and threatened by Carr and Dameron. Says the guy with an ankle bracelet.
During the trial, the defense asked for a mistrial because one of the testifying police officers referred to Walls as a ‘bad guy’.
This past Thursday, September 14th, Walls was found guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter. Which means some members of the jury bought his BS about being afraid for his life. Even if he was, this was still first-degree murder. It was obviously premeditated and essentially an execution. Even if his victims were gang members as his defense claimed, that’s still murder. This means Walls will be eligible for parole when he’s sentenced in November. Eligible for parole after murdering two teenagers in cold blood inside a school.
That’s not justice.
(Sources)
