Nichole Brooks (left) and Isis Wallace (right), Dover Police Department
State and federal authorities have ended their search for two suspects in a deadly drive-by shooting that left a 13-year-old girl fatally shot in the head in West Virginia one week ago.
The U.S. Marshals Service announced Wednesday that the federal law enforcement agency had joined forces with the Bluefield Police Department in West Virginia among others in the search for Nichole Brooks, 43, and Isis Wallace, 22. The search ended on Wednesday night around 9 p.m. at a hotel in Dover, Delaware, the Dover Police Department announced on Thursday.
Dover Police said that the arrests of Brooks and Wallace occurred after authorities acted on information that they were staying at the Mainstay Suites.
“Officers from the Dover Police Department and USMS conducted surveillance at the hotel before executing a search warrant and taking both suspects into custody shortly at approximately 9:00 p.m. Both suspects surrendered without incident,” police said.
The suspects, pictured above and below, are accused of shooting the teen victim in the head while targeting adults in a stopped vehicle. While the search was still active, the two women were considered armed and dangerous, and “a significant threat to public safety.”
U.S. Marshals said the suspects “fired multiple rounds into a vehicle occupied by three people, while they were sitting at a red light March 23 near the intersection of U.S. Route 460 and Cumberland Road in Bluefield.”
“The victim was discovered in the back seat with a gunshot wound to her head,” the alert said. “She was transported to CAMC General in Charleston and later died from her injuries.”
Although the first-degree murder warrants were issued March 24, the day after the fatal shooting, the suspects were not taken into custody for six days.
U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of West Virginia Michael Baylous said in a Wednesday alert in advance of the suspects’ arrests that the investigation was “elevated” to “major case status.” Baylous also said that authorities were “offering a $5,000 reward each for the capture of Nichole Brooks and Isis Wallace.”
“The sooner we have them in custody, the better,” Baylous said.
Information about the suspects’ whereabouts — and the Wednesday night arrests — soon followed.
Authorities believe that the deadly shooting stemmed from an earlier domestic-related incident on Memorial Avenue in Bluefield, local police Lt. Kenny Adams said, according to The Register-Herald.
Brooks and Wallace remain held at the Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution in Delaware ahead their expected extradition to West Virginia, where they will face murder charges.
Alberto Luperon contributed to this report.
[Images via Dover Police Department, U.S. Marshals]