COLUMBUS, Ohio — In the early morning of May 6, police were called to the scene of a shooting on St. Clair Avenue in South Linden. Columbus police said Taylin Roland, 28, was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooter, Keith Pleasant, 29, turned the gun on himself after injuring three others. Pleasant later died at a hospital.
De’Nay Prince was one of the three others shot during the incident. She said the night started off with all of them getting together at the home in South Linden to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Prince said the night started to take a turn when Pleasant started getting aggressive with Roland, his girlfriend.
"He was making like little remarks like, ‘oh, I'll kill everybody in here,’ but we didn't think too much of it because he was Keith and he never did anything like that to make us feel like he would've killed us that night,” Prince said.
Prince said Pleasant then started to become violent. When he found out they were about to call police, Prince said Pleasant came back downstairs with a gun. He first shot at Prince’s boyfriend, Tyez, who was outside of the home, about to call 911.
"Tyez takes off like kinda running towards the house, and he starts turning to the side like where he's running and he sees me and he shoots me twice… I never would've thought that Keith would've turned and shot at us,” Prince said.
Prince said one of the bullets hit her in the leg. She then ran and hid behind a trash can outside to call for help.
"I don't know if I'm shot twice or once, but I'm like on the phone, I'm like, please help me I don't want to die, please help my boyfriend, like please he's been shot," Prince said.
Prince was taken to the hospital with Tyez. Another woman who had also been shot was brought to a hospital where she was treated and released. Prince said she was hospitalized for several days before being released. She now walks with a cane as she continues to recover. Tyez remains hospitalized more than a week later and has had several surgeries.
"It just makes you think like, OK, so you can't always believe that somebody wouldn't do this to you because they say they love you and they say they wouldn't do this to you,” Prince said.
Columbus police reported last week there have been 12 domestic violence homicides this year, which is almost double last year’s number.
Lillian Howard, the director of clinical and supportive services at Luther Social Services CHOICES, said they provide resources to people impacted by domestic violence.
"I know everyone else is noticing that there is an increase in the number of people who are calling but for us it’s just another day,” Howard said.
Howard said counseling is crucial when it comes to dealing with trauma.
"Counseling is always one of the most important things that you can do in order to deal with the trauma that you experienced in your life,” Howards said.
Looking back, Prince said the warning signs were there.
"He [Pleasant] was like saying like, ‘oh yeah, I'm not with the domestic stuff no more, but I used to break girls ribs and stuff like that,’” Prince said.
Prince said she wasn’t interested in getting counseling after the trauma she experienced, but after her first session last week, she said its already helped her.
"No matter how you feel about something, like you don't feel like you want to talk to anybody, you don't want to express how you feel, it definitely helps to talk to somebody, because a lot of this could've been prevented if he had gotten the help that he needed and got his mental health right and didn't feel like he needed to do what he did that night,” Prince said.