'Get out,' warns dad as daughter dies from domestic violence

YOUNGSTOWN

Dana Wallace was hovering over his daughter as her life support was taken away Tuesday at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, yet he said he did not want her impending death to be in vain.

His daughter, Danekua Bankston, 28, was shot several times, including in the head, early Friday in her Oregon Avenue apartment on the West Side.

Police say an ex-boyfriend, Kyle Rice, 29, shot her, and he was arrested later that day on a charge of attempted murder.

“This is her last day,” Wallace said as he described injuries from gunshot wounds to his daughter’s arm, spleen, stomach and head. “They’re just letting it run its course because she’s brain dead.”

Speaking to a Vindicator reporter on the phone from Bankston’s hospital room, Wallace said he thought it was so important people know about the dangers of domestic violence that he had to get the message out even as his daughter lay dying.

“For anybody, if they see red flags, get out,” Wallace said. “Try to get out and tell somebody.”

Wallace said his daughter, who had three children with Rice, was often tormented by him, and he often threatened to kill her.

She was worried she would meet the same fate as her best friend, Tracee Banks, who was shot and killed in 2010 by a jealous ex-boyfriend. Banks’ killer was convicted and is serving a lengthy prison sentence.

Read more of her story in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.