A 31-year-old man in California is probably going to spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his 23-year-old girlfriend while she was driving and her four small children in the car.
He did nothing to save the children, and the vehicle crashed into a river. Authorities said that Mandiko Kwadzo was found guilty on Wednesday by a jury in Sacramento County of first-degree murder, using a handgun while committing a felony, and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the 2020 killing of Carliena Clayton.
Officers from the West Sacramento Police Department responded to a 911 call on July 27, 2020, stating that shots had been fired inside the house Clayton had recently moved into with her four children, ages two to six, according to a news release from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
First responders reported that after entering the house, they discovered evidence that a gun had been fired inside. Witnesses claimed to have seen Clayton and Kwadzo fighting on the driveway of the house shortly after the 911 call.
The witness stated that before the vehicle started and drove off, Clayton climbed into the driver’s seat with her four kids in the back and Kwadzo into the passenger seat.
A man was at Cliff’s Marina on the Sacramento River later that evening at around 9:30 p.m. when he heard the sound of at least one gunshot and then saw an automobile smash into the river. Prosecutors claim that the two guys raced to the crash site with the assistance of a friend and “saw the victim’s car partially submerged in the river.”
“Kwadzo was standing nearby the car not doing anything to help,” according to the release. “When they looked into the car, they found the victim unresponsive in the driver’s seat and her four children in the back seat. The oldest 6-year-old child had already unbuckled all their seat belts, but the youngest 2-year-old child was still in her car seat. The two men got the children out of the car to safety.”
When California Highway Patrol troopers arrived at the scene of the collision, they discovered that Clayton was unconscious and had no pulse. In addition, she was “bleeding severely from her head.”
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Clayton’s 6-year-old boy informed CHP that Kwadzo had shot his mother before to the collision, refuting the initial belief held by the authorities that Clayton’s injuries were the consequence of a car accident. Kwadzo was then taken into prison by police.
After an examination, it was discovered that Clayton had two gunshot wounds to the head. Never was the murder weapon found.
Kwadzo’s sentencing hearing is set to take place on September 6 in front of Judge Kenneth Brody in the morning. He could receive a term ranging from 53 years to life in a state prison.
