Pickens charged in triple homicide

Pendleton, Ohio-
Because 3-year-old Sha’Railyn Wright knew Mark Pickens name and might be able to tell police what she saw, she had to die, Hamilton County’s prosecutor said Tuesday.

Moments after a 19-year-old mother and her 9-month-old son were killed in their Pendleton apartment, Pickens walked over to within feet of Sha’Railyn and pointed a gun at her.

She covered her head with her hands. Pickens fired, the bullet piercing Sha’Railyn’s hands and crashing into her brain, killing her, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said in announcing Pickens' capital murder indictment.

“These weren’t stray gunshots that killed the three. All were purposely executed,” Deters said.

Pickens, 19, of the West End, also is accused of shooting to death his former girlfriend, Noelle Washington, 19, and her 9-month-old son, Anthony Jones III. Washington was baby sitting Sha’Railyn at the time in her apartment in the 400 block of East 13th Street.

“It’s a level of violence that is grotesque in nature, something that we’ve never seen before,” an indignant Deters said.

In addition to shooting the 3-year-old in the top of the head, Pickens shot Washington in the back of the head as she held her son in her arms, Deters said. The infant was shot in the forehead.

Mother and son were buried the way they died – the infant in his mother’s arms.
“How do you explain an act like this?” Deters wondered.

Pickens has a penchant for violence, authorities allege, noting he already faces a 31-year prison term on charges stemming from felonious assault and attempted murder. In that incident , he is accused of shooting Anthony Jones II, the father of Washington’s infant, in a March 27 shooting.