WOMAN DEFENDS HER DECEASED SISTER

LIMA -- Tarika Wilson was to begin college Monday to study business in
hopes of making a better life for herself and her six children.

"She was supposed to start Monday with me," her sister, Tania Wilson,
said.

Tarika Wilson will never have that chance.

A Lima Police Department SWAT team officer shot her to death Friday
inside her home at 218 E. Third St. during an evening drug raid. The
circumstances remained under investigation Saturday with police
officials releasing few details about what happened inside the home.

Lima police officials turned the investigation over to the Ohio Bureau
of Criminal Identification and Investigation for an independent
investigation because it involves officers in the department, Chief
Greg Garlock said.

Tania Wilson said she and her family are more than upset and have no
faith in police.

"I know my sister and I know she wouldn't do nothing to jeopardize her
life or her kids," she said.

They want answers and only know bits and pieces of information they
have gleaned from the oldest children who were inside the home, she
said. She spoke Saturday night from Nationwide Children's Hospital in
Columbus where they were visiting her sister's 13-month old son,
Sincere Wilson, who also was shot in the raid.

Sincere was out of surgery recovering from a gunshot to his shoulder
and another shot that blew off a finger. He is expected to survive but
doctors told the family it was too early to say how bad the injuries
were.

"They don't know now if he will ever be able to use his arm," she
said.

Tania Wilson said her sister's six children were inside the home.
Besides Sincere, there is Taesha Wilson, 8, Serenitie Wilson, 7,
Sa'raesha Wilson, 5, Johnny Hall III, 4, and Darlajia Wilson, 3.

The information Tania Wilson has gathered from her nieces was police
stormed the home after setting off some type of explosive device outside.

"My niece did say she saw firecrackers," she said.

The man police was after, Anthony Terry, the boyfriend of Tarika
Wilson, was downstairs in the home. Tarika Wilson and her six children
were upstairs, Tania Wilson said.

Tarika Wilson was with her children helping them clean their bedrooms
when the home was raided. Tarika Wilson's daughter said her mom was
holding the baby when she was shot, Tania Wilson said.

"Her first instinct was the baby. That was her first reaction because
she was a good mom," the Tania Wilson said.

As police stormed the home, at least one officer made his way
upstairs, she said.

The daughter said she heard a gunshot and saw her mother's arm snap
back. She then saw her mother fall face first on the baby, Tania
Wilson said.

Tania Wilson and her family are questioning why police would even go
into a home where they knew children may be.

"I thought it was always safety and precaution first," she
said.

She said her sister doesn't have a gun and can't understand a scenario
in which an officer would shoot at her sister and a baby.

"I don't know how you can mistake a 1-year-old baby for a gun. That's
what I think. Why else would they shoot her?" she said.