Kenacia Amerson-Straughn, a Black/African American female age 2, was shot and killed in Omaha, Nebraska, on December 6, 2015. The violence unfolded late that Sunday night at the Bluffs at Cherry Hills Apartments near North 108th Street and Military Avenue, where five people were struck by gunfire. Kenacia and her 22-year-old mother, Destacia Straughn, died at the scene; three other women Jamie Latner, 18, Larrion Williams, 21, and Kachelle Roby, 22 were wounded and taken to area hospitals.
Police identified the child and her mother the next morning as the deceased victims.
Investigators quickly named 23-year-old Dontevous Loyd as the suspect, saying he had kicked in the apartment door and opened fire. A citywide search followed, and on December 8, Loyd surrendered to authorities. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Kenacia and her mother and three counts of attempted murder for the surviving victims.
The case moved swiftly through the courts. In 2017, a Douglas County judge found Loyd guilty and sentenced him to two consecutive life terms for the murders, with additional prison time for the shootings of the three women who survived. The sentencing underscored prosecutors account that Loyd forced his way into the apartment and unleashed the gunfire that ended the lives of the young mother and her toddler.
In the days after the shooting, the police department also faced scrutiny for earlier contact with Loyd. Hours before the killings, two Omaha officers had responded to a 911 call at the apartment; an internal investigation later found they violated a department policy during that welfare check. The officers were disciplined, though the chief said there was no indication they could have predicted the murders.
Loved ones mourned Kenacia and her mother at services held at Grace Apostolic Church in mid-December 2015, and community members gathered to grieve the loss of a child whose life had only just begun.
