Angered at how they've been portrayed, the family of a 5-year-old slaying victim struck back Wednesday at police assertions that someone in their house has been involved in a neighborhood dispute with his killer.
The police theory of the shooting that took place Tuesday morning in the 4500 block of Bryant Av. N. holds that two groups of people in the Camden neighborhood, one of whom was at the home where Nizzel Anthony George lived, were engaged in a dangerous, ongoing dispute.
"Who?" asked Rochelle Banks Wowo, Nizzel's grandmother, when told that police said someone in her house may know who sprayed gunfire at her house Tuesday morning from across the street, striking Nizzel in the back as he slept on a couch in the living room.
"Who knows? My grandbaby? My 12-year-old?" she asked.
Investigators served a search warrant at a house in the 4500 block of Camden Av. N. overnight Tuesday, according to a police spokesman, searching a house that had been shot up hours before Nizzel's killing.
In an interview Wednesday, Police Chief Tim Dolan said he believes that people in the neighborhood may know more than they've told the police so far.
"I know that the family likely has a good idea of who did this," said Dolan. "My worry is that somebody will try to do something on their own versus coming forward with information that we need to be able to finish this case up. I'd hate to see that."
Police investigators reached out to the public Wednesday afternoon to ask for more tips. In their statement, police said four homicide investigators, along with officers from the Fourth Precinct and the Violent Criminal Apprehension Team, worked through the night.
