John Jefferson
Top inset: Sheila Wallace (Corrigan Craciun Funeral Home). Bottom inset: DaJuan Evans (Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department). Background: The park in Ohio where Wallace was killed (WKYC).
An Ohio man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for randomly killing a grandmother out walking her dog in a park near her home.
DaJuan Evans, 24, learned his fate for the death of Sheila Wallace, 58, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley announced in a press release. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault, and firearm charges.
“The Wallace family has waited over five years for answers,” O’Malley said. “I want to thank the Cleveland Homicide Initiative for never forgetting about the tragic homicide of Sheila Wallace and working tirelessly to determine who was responsible.”
Wallace was killed on Jan. 17, 2019, while she was on her routine evening walk with her little dog at McGowan Park. Evans and another man were also walking in the park that night toward her when they crossed paths with the victim. Evans stopped, turned around, and fired four shots. One shot struck Wallace in the head, and another shot struck her in the chest, prosecutors said.
Evans and the second man fled. Neighbors found Wallace — her black and white dog, Winston, huddled beside her — and called the police.
Wallace’s family was shattered.
“Somebody killed my mom. Somebody shot her in the face and killed her for no reason,” her daughter, Katie Wallace, told local ABC affiliate WEWS through tears in an August 2019 interview.
A reward was put out to find the killers.
“This should be a concern to everyone because these two individuals who were involved in this killing are still on the street, and if they’re willing to pull the trigger on an innocent woman walking her dog … no telling what they would do to another human being,” Richard McIntosh with Cuyahoga County Crime Stoppers told the station.
Evans was arrested in May 2023 for Wallace’s murder. The second man wasn’t charged, Cleveland.com reported.
At the time, Evans was in state prison, serving a five-year sentence for robbery. Among the evidence linking Evans to the murder was DNA recovered from a gun used in a shooting months after Wallace’s slaying, a Glock pistol turned in by a good Samaritan, prosecutors said.
“There’s so many pieces that went into this indictment, but to the good Samaritan who found the weapon and turned it over to the Second District officers, thank you, thank you, thank you,” O’Malley said at the time.
Wallace has two grandchildren. She was an executive medical secretary at the Cleveland Clinic, her obituary said.
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