Two families mourning the lives of their loved ones in two separate shootings early Wednesday morning are asking for justice.
The first shooting took place around 1:30 a.m. near the area of 33rd and Fowler. Officers found 27-year-old Darnesha Mitchell suffering from a gunshot wound. She later died at the hospital.
About an hour after the first homicide, police responded to a shooting near 36th and Laurel and found 28-year-old D’Angelo Branch unresponsive in the street. Branch was declared dead at the scene.
Mitchell’s father, Lamont Marion says he doesn’t understand why anyone would hurt his baby girl.
"She was a lovely person. She was a cook at the Douglas county hospital. She took care of people,” says Marion. “Darnesha never bothered anyone. She was a good girl. 27 years old. She was taken at a young age. I loved my daughter.”
Branch’s family is also mourning, calling his death a ‘senseless act of gun violence.’
“He was just shot. Somebody just shot a person that wasn’t doing anything but just trying to get home, just trying to get in the house,” says Branch’s brother, Danny Stubblefield.
Branch’s godmother, Shirley Taylor says she’s in mourning, but is also angry the violence in North Omaha continues.
“Whoever did this is a coward. They need to step forward and stop taking innocent lives,” says Taylor. “Now we’re going to be hurting for D’Angelo for the rest of our lives. We’re going to think about his smile and how he loved to hug people, kiss people.”
Stubblefield says Branch had special needs, born with excess water in his brain. His doctors said he wasn’t supposed to live past his first birthday, but Stubblefield says his brother was a fighter – a miracle.
"From the beginning, doctors said he wasn’t going to make it. Then he made it a year after birth. Then five years later, the doctors said well, he's not going to make it to another five years. He made it to leave five more years, all the way until he was killed.”
The families hope they eventually see the case closed for those who opened fire.
“I pray that the people responsible for it turn themselves in,” says Marion.
"It could be your loved one next that this happens to. You know, if you got anything, just let somebody know what happened. That's all we want. We just want justice. That's all we want,” says Stubblefield.
Mitchell’s family has opened up an account at SAC Federal Credit Union under her name to help cover funeral expenses.
No arrests have been made in the homicides.
If you have any information on these shootings, you’re asked to call Crime Stoppers at 402-444-STOP.
There is a $25,000 reward and you can remain anonymous.
