On a cold Thursday morning, less than 12 hours after two young men were gunned down at Griffin Heights Apartments, Lillian Duncan sat on a stoop at the complex and wept, trying to draw strength from scriptures playing on her pink computer tablet.
“Though an army besieged me, my heart will not fear,” the narrator said, reading from Psalm 27.
Duncan was with her daughter, who stays at the Basin Street apartments, and a number of young children when they heard gunshots a little after 10 p.m. on Wednesday night.
She ran out to find two people she knew, Karlik Glenn, 19, and his brother, Malachi Hodges, 16, on the ground and suffering from gunshot wounds. Malachi lay in the parking lot next to a dark SUV, while Glenn collapsed in a grassy area between two of the buildings.
Duncan said Glenn called out to her after she stepped outside. She went to his side and tried to comfort him as best she could.
“He said he was dying,” Duncan said. “I said you’re not going to die. I said what happened? Who shot you? He just kept saying he was dying.”
He asked her to try to help him get up, but she said she couldn’t because she didn’t know where he had been shot. Frantic, she ran back to the apartment to get a blanket, told her daughter to call 911 and rushed back to him. He begged her not to leave again.
“I’m not going to leave you,” Duncan said she told him.
Officers responded shortly after 10 p.m., found the two victims suffering from gunshot wounds and immediately rendered aid, the Tallahassee Police Department said in social media posts.
They were taken to a local hospital, where they later died. Duncan said neither of the victims resided at the apartment complex. Heather Merritt, a TPD spokeswoman, confirmed their identities but had nothing on a potential suspect.
“We don’t have any suspect information,” Merritt said.
Later in the day, TPD announced that its Violent Crimes Unit had assumed the investigation and that “preliminary findings indicate this is an isolated incident and all parties involved have been identified. Based on this information, detectives believe there is no immediate concern for a threat to public safety.”
In social media posts, TPD went on to say that no arrests have been made and that the case remains open and active.
The shooting happened hours after another person was shot and killed in a domestic incident off Tower Road in northwest Leon County. The Leon County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.
On Thursday morning, a woman who resides at Griffin Heights spotted Duncan grieving as she was driving out of the parking lot. She stopped her car and went to check on her. The woman, who asked not to be identified, tried to console Duncan, telling her how sorry she was.
“It’s not right,” Duncan cried out repeatedly, tears pouring from her eyes.
Deshavion Lindsey, who was visiting the complex Wednesday night, said he knew both of the victims and tried to help the younger one before police and paramedics arrived.
“I applied pressure to the wound, but he was already gone,” Lindsey said.
Miya Wilson, who lives at Griffin Heights Apartments with her two children, ages 4 and 2, said she came home Wednesday night from her job at a local restaurant to find crime scene tape and evidence markers in the parking lot. She said the shooting was a reminder that she needs to find a new place to live.
“It just lets me know I have to get out of Griffin Heights,” she said. “I have children.”
Duncan said she didn’t feel safe at the apartment complex anymore either.
“We gotta go,” she said.
Griffin Heights Apartments, which is situated next to a sprawling student housing complex, has seen a number of shootings over the years, some fatal. In 2021, the shooting death of Javaris Miller prompted his girlfriend to sue the complex, alleging it failed to provide safety and security for residents. In 2022, there were at least four shooting incidents at Griffin Heights that left several people injured.
Lindsey, like others who spoke with the Democrat, said he didn’t know what happened exactly. But he said he feels safe visiting the complex.
“The safety is good,” he said. “The police are always here.”
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.