7-Year-Old Boy Playing Video Games Was Killed in 2020 When Gunfire Flew into Home, 2 Suspects Arrested

Travon Wilson, 24, and Kwatez Carter, 21, have been charged with the murder of South Carolina boy Knowledge Sims

Knowledge Sims. Photo: Columbia Police Department

Two South Carolina men are in custody for the shooting death of 7-year-old boy Knowledge Sims.

On April 29, 2020, Knowledge was playing video games in his Columbia home when he and his 13-year-old sister, Adontis, were struck by gunfire, according to WACH and WIS.

The siblings were transported to a nearby hospital. Adontis underwent surgery and survived, but Knowledge succumbed to his injuries.

For the past 18 months, investigators have been pleading for the public's help in identifying Knowledge's killers. Ballistic evidence was recovered at the scene, and authorities determined that more than a dozen rounds were unloaded from outside the home by at least two different weapons.

"Help us bring the people responsible for this cowardly act of violence to justice," Columbia Police Department Chief W.H. "Skip" Holbrook said in a statement following the tragedy. "We are asking and appealing to your heart to do what is right, and do it for Knowledge Sims. When is enough, enough? If the murder of a 7-year-old does not put a lump in your throat and tear at your heart, I don't know what will."

Nine people were home at the time of the killing—two adults and seven children. Throughout the investigation, the Columbia PD has not believed that Knowledge was the intended target.

Travon Wilson, Kwatez Carter. Columbia Police Department

On Wednesday, Holbrook announced that crime scene evidence linked two men to the fatal shooting.

Travon Wilson, 24, and Kwatez Carter, 21, now face murder charges in the killing of Knowledge, in addition to charges of attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, discharging a firearm into a dwelling, and criminal conspiracy.

"This [case] tugged at the heartstrings of every single person in this building from the very beginning," Holbrook told his community in an emotional press conference Wednesday, adding that investigators were frustrated with the lack of leads brought forward to find Knowledge's killers. "This case has lingered because we have not had cooperation. We are better than this, and I just appeal to our citizens, we've got to say, 'This is enough. It is absolutely enough.'"

The police department has not yet revealed an alleged motive for the crime.

It is unclear if either suspect has entered pleas to the charges against them, and PEOPLE was unable to determine if Wilson and Carter have retained attorneys who can speak on their behalf.

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Carter was in custody for a separate April 2020 shooting at the time that he was named a suspect in Knowledge's murder.

In that case, he was charged with attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a felony for allegedly shooting at multiple people traveling in vehicles only a few blocks from the Sims' home.

Following Knowledge's death, PEOPLE reported that the boy is remembered as a University of Miami Hurricanes football fan who loved cars, video games, and Peppa Pig.

The investigation into his murder remains active, police say, and more arrests are possible.