Cameron Knight

cknight@enquirer.com

Three bullets ruined David Wallace's life more than seven years ago, and now they've ended it.

The bullets left him paralyzed and the only reason Wallace fought through the pain was to spend more time with them, his family said.

Wallace was shot on West McMicken Avenue in Over-the-Rhine in September 2008. The 41-year-old died on Jan. 5 due to complications resulting from the injuries he suffered that night.

His death has sparked a homicide investigation that is challenging detectives.

Sgt. Anthony Faillace said that opening an investigation this long after the incident is similar to investigating a cold case. Police have to go back through the reports from the time. In Wallace's case, there is very little to go on.

A police report from that night states Wallace was shot three times in the torso following an argument with a man he didn't know. Even Wallace's sister, Candice McSwain, 30, didn't know what led to the shooting. But Wallace's friend told her what happened right after the shots were fired.

"He was with a lady when the shooting happened. He had fallen in the street," she said. "They were still shooting at him, they were going to try to just go ahead and kill him."

She credits the woman with saving her brother.

"She dragged him. There was a dirty old couch that someone had thrown out for the garbage," McSwain said. "While they were shooting, a bullet went through her pants, but she dragged him and put him up under the couch."

McSwain's recent efforts to find the woman have been unsuccessful, and now it's too late to ask Wallace more about what happened that night.

Victim dies 7 years after shooting

McSwain said her brother was paralyzed below the chest after the shooting. He was initially treated at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, then transferred to the Drake Center. As he was preparing to transition out that facility, his recovery stalled.

"He got a little scratch as small as a tear drop on his behind," McSwain said. "He ended up getting bed sores."

Until his death, he was in and out of nursing facilities, only occasionally living with his mother, Weigelia Brown, and sister in Westwood.

"He had to go to the doctor a lot," McSwain said. "They would cut on his bed sores because his whole backside and both legs had really bad bed sores ... but he fought through it."

Despite the pain, McSwain remembers her brother's sense of humor and the love he had for her two daughters.

"He was a really funny guy," she said. "To me he had a whole bunch of wisdom...I learned a lot from just being around him. He was an awesome guy."

She explained he treated his room at the nursing facility like it was his house, and he would have his nieces over often.

"He would have sleepovers with them, and get movies and pizza and popcorn and candy, and just have a ball with them," she said. "He was an amazing person."

But sometimes, no amount of fun could stop his injuries from catching up with him.

"After he was shot, he would cover his face up and say he was going to the third floor. That just meant, 'I don't want to be bothered,'" McSwain said.

She said her brother fought to stay alive because he knew his death would be hard on his family.

"Towards the end of it, he would call me and say, 'Candice, how do you think mama would feel if I just let go?'" she said. "I would tell him, 'I don't know how to answer that and I definitely don't know how to prepare your mom for your death.'"

Eventually, seven years of doctor's visits and setbacks took their toll.

"He was miserable, he was in a whole bunch of pain," McSwain said. "He was ready to go."

Now, Wallace's sister and mother are working to help police find the people responsible for shooting Wallace. A stack of posters and flyers sit on their kitchen table. Above a photo of Wallace, red letters ask "Do you know who killed my son?"

The place where police found Wallace in 2008, 17 W. McMicken Ave., is in a block of old apartments and boarded up buildings. Just a few blocks away, police recently identified the corner of Back and Hamer street as a violence hotspot.

There aren't any nearby businesses with owners who might remember residents from that time, and even McSwain wasn't sure what drew her brother there in the first place.

"That's just where he hung out," McSwain said. "I kind of feel like it was the wrong place at the wrong time."

She wants anyone who may have known her brother or spent time in that area of Over-the-Rhine during that time to think back and contact police if they remember anything about the night he was shot.

She said some people might remember Wallace by his nickname, "Dee Scamp."

In the meantime, McSwain is fighting to keep her daughters safe.

"I'm sure it's everywhere, but just to sitting in your living room and watching TV and you hear a gunshot and possibly that same bullet that came out of the gunshot you just heard can come through your window," she said. "Every time you turn on the news, someone else has been shot or killed or they found a body in a car. It's ridiculous."

Investigators are encouraging anyone who was in the area of West McMicken Avenue in September 2008 or anyone with information about the shooting to call 513-352-3040.