Man Learns Fate After Arranging Meeting with His Baby, Then Murdering His Ex and Her Mother
Keanan Turner then shot the baby’s aunt in the face and set fire to the apartment with his son inside
A Maryland man will serve 68 years behind bars after fatally shooting his infant son's mother and grandmother and then turning the gun on the child's aunt — all because he did not want to pay child support, according to federal prosecutors.
On April 12, 2021, Keanan Turner – who had met his son for the first time about an hour before – lit the custody papers and apartment on fire and left his baby to burn inside, according to federal prosecutors.
The attempt by the new father on his son's life was foiled after the surviving aunt escaped the burning home with the baby safely in her arms.
Superior Court Judge Maribeth Raffinan sentenced Turner on Oct. 18, after the 35-year-old had been found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder while armed with aggravated circumstances, assault with intent to kill while armed, aggravated assault while armed, attempted first degree murder of a minor, second degree cruelty to children, arson and destruction of property. Turner was also convicted of four counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence and carrying a pistol without a license.
In the years since the double homicide, Turner – who had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison – has shown a “complete lack of remorse” for the crimes, which took “substantial planning,” the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said in a press release announcing the sentencing.
After the child’s mother, Ebony Wright – who had been in a relationship with Turner – told him that she was pregnant, he asked her to have an abortion, according to federal prosecutors. When she refused, Turner stopped talking to her.
Ebony re-established contact to file a custody and child support lawsuit against him, per prosecutors.
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Then on Aug. 21, 2021, Turner reached out and said that he wanted to meet his son at her apartment in Washington, D.C.
Ebony’s mother, Wanda Wright, and her sister – identified in a GoFundMe as Destiny Wright – accompanied Ebony and the baby to the meeting.
After almost an hour with his son – later identified by family as 4-month-old Grayson – prosecutors say Turner excused himself to the bathroom, returning with a gun.
He shot Ebony in the head as she held their infant child, and then shot Wanda in the back of the head, per prosecutors.
Going to a back bedroom, he shot Destiny in the face, and, before leaving the apartment, lit the custody papers and apartment on fire in what prosecutors said in a press release announcing the sentencing was “an attempt to kill his own child.”
As he dashed from the burning apartment, Turner tried to remove a Ring camera from the front door — exposing a unique tattoo on his arm that ultimately helped lead to his arrest.
Laying wounded in the bedroom, Destiny heard Grayson crying alone in the living room, and, bleeding from the face, grabbed the infant and fled the blaze to call 911, per prosecutors.
Destiny, who was a college student at North Carolina A&T at the time of the incident, returned to school to “make her mother and sister proud,” ultimately, graduating with the intention of eventually raising her nephew, per a GoFundMe set up by Ebony’s godmother, Angela Hargrove.
Grayson, now 3, is non-verbal and has autism but is “strong and demanding,” Hargrove – who is helping care for both aunt and child – said in an August update to the campaign page.
“Ya’ll know it takes a village to raise a child,” she wrote, adding: “Please continue to pray and thank God that Justice has been served.”
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