A 17-year-old girl from Dayton, Ohio lost her life as the result of an ongoing domestic violence situation with her 28-year-old ex-boyfriend, who shot and killed her.

According to WHIO-TV, a CBS affiliate in Dayton, LaShonda Childs was rushed to Grandview Medical Center after being shot in the head late Tuesday night (Oct. 2).

Childs was pronounced dead early Wednesday morning. Her ex-boyfriend, 28-year-old Trendell Goodwin, was arrested Tuesday and charged with her murder Wednesday.

LaShonda’s 18th birthday would have been Friday (Oct. 5).

Here’s what you need to know:

1Trendell Goodwin lied to LaShonda Childs about his age when they started dating in September 2017. Trendell was abusive towards LaShonda and would often harass her. He also bit her so hard one time that she started bleeding.

LaShonda’s mother, Nina Childs, told reporters that her daughter and Trendell Goodwin started dating last September after he lied about his age.

Trendell had told LaShonda he was 20 years old, and when LaShonda found out he was lying about how old he was, he started showing signs of abusive behavior.

Earlier this year, in February, Nina said Trendell bit LaShonda so hard that she started bleeding. Court records confirmed that incident.

Goodwin was arrested on February 19th after Childs told police he hit her in the face and bit her left shoulder during an argument about text messages involving another woman.

“Childs had a fresh bite mark on her left shoulder,” a Dayton police officer wrote in an incident report. “The left side of her face was swollen where she claimed Goodwin hit her. She also had had abrasions on the right side of her neck and her nose was bleeding at one point.”

Goodwin served 19 days of a 180-day sentence for misdemeanor assault, Dayton Municipal Court and jail records showed. Goodwin was ordered not to have contact with Childs, received home detention and was ordered to receive counseling.

LaShonda’s mother also said Goodwin would often steal LaShonda’s phones and harass her and her family. “He was the type of guy who would call you 70 times a day,” Nina said. “Nonstop. It was aggravating as well as annoying and scary.”

LaShonda’s brother said Goodwin continued to reach out to LaShonda, even after they broke up. “She was really in the process of leaving,” said Jaylon Childs.

2LaShonda and her family went to the police for help on multiple occasions, and filed a restraining order against Goodwin after he pulled her wig off, set it on fire and threw it at her.

Nina Childs said that LaShonda eventually confided in her about how abusive Goodwin was towards her.

“LaShonda told me, ‘You know mom he made me walk from our house to his house with a gun pointed at my back. I was scared for my life as well as my family’s life,'” Nina said.

According to court records obtained by WHIO-TV, LaShonda and her family sought help from the police on multiple occasions.

“Goodwin was on probation for a misdemeanor assault case against Childs and was ordered not to see her when he allegedly pulled her hair and wig, set it on fire and threw it at her causing burns last month,” WHIO-TV reported.

Detective Justin Ellis wrote a statement about the September 13th incident in an effort to establish probable cause for an arrest warrant.

“Mr. Goodwin caught Ms. Childs on her front porch and tried to pull her by the hair,” Det. Justin Ellis wrote. “Her hair had been a wig and was pulled off. After noticing it was a wig Mr. Goodwin lit the wig on fire and threw it onto Ms. Childs causing burns to her left bicep. The burning sensation caused her to drop her phone. Mr. Goodwin picked the phone up and fled the scene. Mr. Goodwin has been sending threatening comments to Ms. Childs and Ms. Childs’ friends and relatives since this incident.”

A termination entry in that case filed a week later on September 20th said “Upon application of the Prosecuting Attorney and for good cause was shown,” the case was dismissed without prejudice.

WHIO-TV reported: “On Sept. 10, 2018, Dayton Municipal Court Judge Daniel Gehres ordered an additional year of probation for Goodwin and continued an April decision for a criminal protection order that Goodwin was to stay 500 feet away from Childs. The order also prohibited Goodwin from contacting Childs by telephone.”

A criminal complaint and affidavit filed in Dayton Municipal Court revealed that Goodwin also reportedly kidnapped LaShonda on January 31st, 2018.

“Trendell Goodwin slapped his girlfriend, LaShonda Childs in the face after she told him she was leaving to hang out with a friend,” Dayton police officer Sara VonHolle wrote. “The argument escalated until Goodwin threatened to knock out Childs. Goodwin then kicked Childs out of the residence with little clothing.”

Officer VonHolle’s statement continued: “After Childs attempted to make contact with neighbors she returned to the residence in an attempt to retrieve clothing and shoes. Goodwin then dragged Childs into the residence and would not allow her to leave. When DPD arrived on scene Childs could be heard from inside the residence yelling that he would not let her out. To affect the arrest, DPD forced entry into the home where Goodwin was taken into custody.”

Court records show that the case was presented to a grand jury for possible felony charges, however, a termination entry was filed on February 9th, 2018 that showed no counts moved forward. “Case ignored by the grand jury,” the entry read.

3Less than two weeks before her shooting death, LaShonda posted a lengthy message on Facebook saying “domestic violence is real not just in movies.”

On September 21st, LaShonda Childs wrote a long message on Facebook about the dangers of ignoring signs of domestic violence. “Everybody want a crazy n***a until he got you hiding & dodging bullets,” she said. “If you see the signs don’t ignore it y’all. Domestic violence is real not just in movies.”

You can read her post, which has been shared more than 50,000 times, in its entirety here:

All jokes aside tho, everybody want a crazy n***a until he got you hiding & dodging bullets. If you see the signs don’t ignore it y’all. Domestic violence is real not just in movies. This n***a done broke several phones, busted windows out, followed me from my house to wherever, bit me several times, threw me into walls, made me walk places with a gun to my back, put all my stuff in a sewer, held me hostage in a house & didn’t let me leave, sat & waited at abandoned houses & watched me, pulled my whole sew in off leaving bald spots all that, now he done set my hair on fire & shot my house up that ain’t even half the shit he did but I’m telling y’all that ain’t where it’s at If y’all see the signs don’t ignore it i should’ve left that n***a a long time ago now I ain’t even safe in my own house..

https://www.facebook.com/lashonda.childs/posts/1887279744685668

Trenny Mack, Goodwin’s Facebook alias, responded the post and comments by other people. His comments have since been removed, but WHIO-TV copied them beforehand.

“If y’all really believe this s*** y’all sick,” read one comment by Goodwin. “This the 12th or 13th time she said I did something but still coming back. Stop it.”

When someone commented that Goodwin should let Childs “breathe,” he responded: “I’m a let her breathe today. She better come home tomorrow tho, I gotta big day planned and some good news.”

One of the most alarming comment threads on the post was from a friend who suggested she “block him” because “he got way too much access to you.” LaShonda responded: “Blocking don’t help he stole my phone he can get access to all my sh**.” Her friend then told her to “leave the city before you end up dead somewhere.” LaShonda said, “I am.”

On the morning of September 21st, Childs also posted that Goodwin had stolen her phone and set her on fire.

“Y’all Trenny Mack Stole my phone & set me on fire So if y’all been getting random inboxes or seeing dumb posts report it & if y’all see that n***a call the Police,” she wrote. “I’m sick of this sh** he on some ‘if I can’t have her nobody can’ weird a** sh**”

https://www.facebook.com/lashonda.childs/posts/1886964191383890

4Goodwin fired multiple rounds into a parked car Childs and her new boyfriend were sitting in. Childs was shot in the head and died at the hospital the next day.

Not even two weeks after LaShonda’s alarming Facebook posts, she was shot and killed by Trendell Goodwin.

Court documents state that Goodwin fired multiple rounds at Childs and her new boyfriend while they were sitting in a parked vehicle on Tuesday, October 2nd.

Childs was shot in the head and was driven to the hospital by her boyfriend. She was pronounced dead Wednesday morning (Oct. 3).

According to the Dayton Daily News, Childs called 911 before she and her boyfriend were shot at.

“This dude got a gun pointed to my boyfriend’s head,” Childs reportedly told the 911 operator on Tuesday. “I’ve got a restraining order on him. The police told me to call when I see him. I gave you the address. Can’t you just send somebody out there? I’m scared. He’s got a gun. I can’t talk … I can’t talk. I’m in a bad situation.”

An autopsy confirmed that LaShonda died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Goodwin was arrested the night of the shooting and charged with her murder the next day. The Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office approved charges against Goodwin of murder (two counts), felonious assault (three counts) and improper discharge of a firearm (two counts) on Thursday (Oct. 4), WHIO-TV reported.

LaShonda’s mother, Nina Childs, said she knew something was wrong Tuesday night when police knocked on her door and asked her if everything was alright. “I said, ‘Well as far as I know. Why are you here?’” Nina said.

Police told her that LaShonda had been involved in an altercation, but didn’t say that she was shot and they didn’t mention Goodwin. At that point, Nina started calling LaShonda, but she didn’t answer her phone. “I’m still not thinking that my child was shot,” Nina said.

Not too long after, detectives came to her house and asked Nina if she knew what happened between her daughter and Goodwin. “I told them there was a protection order in place,” Nina said. “The basic reason was that she did not want to date him. He had posted lots of things on Facebook that he would kill her.”

Detectives then told Nina that her daughter had been shot and took her to Grandview Medical to see her. When they arrived, Nina said she had to take a moment before seeing LaShonda. “I couldn’t see my child like that,” she said. “I just couldn’t do it at that moment.”

Nina called her son, LaShonda’s brother Jaylon, to tell him what had happened to his sister. “I was at Walmart shopping,” he said. “I left the cart where it was, dropped everything and headed straight to the hospital.”

When Nina went back to see LaShonda, she said she knew her daughter was dead. “It was very obvious,” she said. “Looking at her I knew she had already died.”

“It was hard,” Jaylon said. “I’d seen her in the hospital before, but nothing like that.”

Nina said she received a call from Grandview hospital around 1:20 a.m. Wednesday morning and was told LaShonda had died. Both Nina and Jaylon said they hope Goodwin spends the rest of his life in prison without parole. “Whatever happens to him, I can’t get my sister back,” Jaylon said. “As long as justice is served, there may be some peace.”

Jaylon also hopes that other women don’t have to go through the same thing his sister did. “I just want to tell all the young girls, all the females, families, friends, if you see the signs, don’t ignore them,” he said. “Do what you got to do. Use the resources. There’s too many out here not to.”

Nina said losing her daughter was “something that will be devastating for the rest of my life.”

According to a number of posts on Facebook from her friends and family, Friday, October 5th, would have been LaShonda Childs’ 18th birthday.

Nina Childs is accepting donations via GoFundMe to help with LaShonda’s funeral and medical expenses. “No donation is [too] small and our family [appreciates] all the love and support from everyone during this tragic time in our lives,” she wrote. CLICK HERE TO DONATE.

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