A widow in Colorado is demanding answers after police allegedly failed to respond to a reported kidnapping, and two men were later found fatally shot.
On the afternoon of June 2, Talija Campbell, a recent transplant to Colorado Springs, claimed she received some frightening text messages from her husband, 32-year-old Qualin Campbell. Talija said she received a picture of one of Qualin’s coworkers taken inside Qualin’s vehicle along with messages that said, “911” and “Send Please!” Talija claimed that she immediately called 911 to report that Qualin, the father of two young daughters, had been kidnapped.
Screenshot of FOX31 Denver YouTube video
Talija reportedly made the call just after 1 p.m. that afternoon and spoke with two different dispatchers. She gave the first dispatcher a description of her husband’s vehicle as well as his approximate location, the parking lot of some fast-food restaurants about one mile from the headquarters of the Colorado Springs Police Department. She was then transferred to another dispatcher, who told her that an officer would investigate the situation and then contact her.
Dissatisfied with the dispatchers’ sense of urgency, Talija drove to the location herself. There, she saw her husband of seven years slumped over, dead from an apparent gunshot wound to the abdomen. Another man, later identified as 44-year-old David Karels, was likewise unconscious in the vehicle. Karels was later pronounced deceased as well, though a cause of death has not been released.
2 men found dead after police don’t respond to callwww.youtube.com
After making the horrific discovery, Talija became furious. “I shouldn’t have been the one there, the first person to respond,” she said.
Her attorney, Harry Daniels, a controversial civil rights lawyer, added, “This was a hostage situation where Qualin Campbell was begging for his life, his wife called 911, the police were less than a mile away but they never responded.”
“I can’t think of anything that could take higher precedence than a hostage situation, except maybe an active shooter,” Daniels also stated.
A CSPD online police blotter recorded that at 2:09 p.m. on June 2, an hour after Talija claimed she called 911, “Officers were dispatched to 1500 S. Nevada Ave. to investigate a shooting. Upon arrival, they located two deceased, adult males.” Based on their preliminary investigation, police believe that the incident was a murder/suicide. CSPD spokesman Robert Tornabene claimed he could not comment on the situation, citing an “open and active criminal investigation.”
Daniels has alleged that immediate action from police “could have saved” Qualin’s life. “The Colorado Springs Police Department and EI Paso County can make all the excuses they want, but the facts are simple,” he said.
“Let’s be clear,” Daniels continued in a statement. “If the police don’t respond to a hostage situation, none of us are safe.”
The Campbell family has created a GoFundMe account to raise money for expenses. The family is also considering filing a lawsuit.
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