A woman who received a desperate text from her husband that signaled that he was held hostage reportedly found his dead body before the police.
On June 2, a man named Qualin Campbell was found dead in Colorado Springs following another emergency call just after 2:00 PM that reported the discovery of two unconscious people who may have been shot in a car, as reported by the Colorado Springs Indy.
Federal civil rights attorney Harry Daniels said that the 32-year-old man was taken hostage and then murdered within a mile of the Colorado Springs Police Department HQ.
His widow Talija Campbell, who is also represented by Daniels, received an alarming text that showed a picture of an unidentified man sitting next to her husband in his car. Alongside the picture, he sent alarming messages that read "911" and "Send Please!"
Talija was stunned by the text and responded: "What's wrong! What do you need me to do? Send me your location again" - before reportedly calling the police. She claimed that authorities "failed to respond to the 911 call that could have saved his life," according to Too Fab.
The widow spoke with AP News about the heartbreaking incident and alleged that she called the authorities just after 1:00 PM and told the dispatcher that she believed Qualin was being held hostage. She then sent his location and described his car.
Talija reiterated all that information to a second dispatcher who allegedly informed her they would check it out. But, she felt there was "no sense of urgency," around her call, so she went to her husband's location herself.
"I shouldn't have been the one there, the first person to respond," she devastatingly told the publication. After arriving at the scene, she immediately spotted his vehicle and tragically found him slumped inside next to another unidentified man.
Talija then said that her husband's uncle contacted law enforcement again to report the shooting death. A police blotter confirms that the officials were sent to the scene at 2:09 PM to investigate and discovered two deceased males at the location, per People.
Qualin's lawyer noted in a release: "No law officers came until Campbell was found dead having bled out from a gunshot to the abdomen roughly an hour later.
"The Colorado Springs Police Department and El Paso County can make all the excuses they want, but the facts are simple: This was a hostage situation where Qualin Campbell was begging for his life, his wife called 911, the police were less than a mile away but they never responded," he said. "Let's be clear. If the police don't respond to a hostage situation, none of us are safe."
Police spokesman Robert Tornabene was asked about the police response to Talija's 911 call and said that he couldn’t comment because there was an "open and active criminal investigation" into the deaths, according to the publication.
The widow has started a GoFundMe page to raise funds for her family, which includes her two daughters. So far, $4,165 has been raised from the $30,000 target.
On the page, she wrote: "Qualin was a loving husband, dedicated father, son, brother, and employee. Tragically, Qualin Campbell lost his life in a senseless act of violence.
"Talija and Qualin share a beautiful love story and were married seven years. She and their two daughters relied on Qualin to provide for the family. His family are having to cope with the untimely and unexpected death of their husband, father, and provider."
She penned that Qualin was "very active in his community," and remembered him as being "selfless" and having a "commitment to serving others" which was "unmatched".
"Qualin's family is devastated and will have to pull together to face this tragedy and deal with the emotional, physical, and financial effects from him [being] unexpectedly taken from them," she concluded.
Our thoughts are with Qualin's family and friends at this tragic time.
