Curtis Miller sits on the bed of his east Columbus apartment with one finger requiring stitches and a leg with a large bandage. They are injuries sustained from a fight with a man police charged with the triple murder of his girlfriend and her two young daughters.
32-year-old Erveena Hammonds and her daughters, 10-year-old Anaesia Green and 7-year-old Breya Hammonds were killed inside their north Columbus apartment Tuesday morning.
Miller says he recalls walking up to the home and knocking on the door and window to be let in, but there was no answer. He then yelled from the door step for someone to open the door.
The response was sickening: “(One of the daughters) screamed out ‘he's in here killing us!’”
Miller says when he went inside the apartment and saw 35-year-old Wendell Callahan – Hammonds’ ex-boyfriend - trying to run away. “I kicked in the door [and Callahan] ran out from the corner with a gun and a knife.”
After a scuffle between the men, both were hospitalized. Callahan is listed in critical condition.
“My only regret at this point is I [didn’t] kill him,” Miller said bluntly.
Hammonds told friends both men have been feuding since the summer for her affection. She wanted Miller, she told friends.
Miller says he had no idea Callahan was capable of going on a killing spree and now struggles with the thought the he wasn’t there sooner to protect Erveena and her girls. He also wishes he could provide answers to Hammond's parents as to why a crime that brought officers to tears could have happened.
“I don't know what to say to tell her family; they just lost a sister, a niece. What do you say to them? What can you say other than answer questions to give them clarification?"
Police arrested Callahan in 2006 on a charge of domestic violence when he was living with Hammonds. She told police he picked her off the ground and threw her on a car.