Cleveland investigators obtained an arrest warrant for a man accused of fatally shooting 3-year-old Major Howard in a drive-by shooting last week. The warrant accuses Donnell “Nell” Lindsey, 22, of firing the shots that killed Major and wounded a woman, reports the Northeast Ohio Media Group Major, the woman and another man were sitting in a parked car when the shooting happened. Major was the second child killed by gun violence in Cleveland in as many weeks. On Saturday, an emotional funeral for Ramon Burnett included a pastor’s impassioned plea for an end to the violence that claimed the 5-year-old boy’s life.
In 2012, Lindsey pleaded guilty to drug possession, attempted tampering with evidence and trafficking. He was sentenced to two years’ probation. Six months later Lindsey pleaded guilty in a separate case to having weapons while under disability. He was sentenced to two years in prison. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Plain Dealer editorializes on the deaths of the two youths that, “The status quo is not acceptable. Children in Cleveland should not have to die to raise public awareness of the many small but significant improvements in gun laws sought by the police and others. The rights of law-abiding gun owners are not eroded by providing police with the tools they need to get crime guns off the streets and out of the hands of those ruthless and wicked enough to endanger children.”