Family of 16-year-old girl shot, killed inside JW Marriott wants answers

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The family of a 16-year-old girl shot and killed inside a hotel room in the JW Marriott early Saturday morning wants answers.

Specifically, they want to know how a gun made it inside the room. Police have made an arrest in the case.

Inconsolable is exactly how Karla Vasquez’s family is feeling. Family and friends were celebrating a 21st birthday on the 20th floor of the hotel. At 1 a.m. on Saturday, their entire world was turned upside down.

It was hard for the teen’s family to fight back the tears.

“At the end, the truth is always going to come to light, and we know we didn’t do anything,” family friend Alison Gonzalez said.

She says Karla fell asleep early Friday night. Gonzalez says she was beside her in bed. The sound of cocking a gun caught her attention and forced her to sit up.

“All I remember was just a room full of smoke,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t remember hearing no ceiling falling or anything. So it’s just like where was he aiming and was it really an accident?”

IMPD officers rushed to the hotel early Saturday morning and found the 16-year-old dead from a gunshot wound.

“Every room she went into she lit it up,” Gonzalez said. “She was the calmest one in the group. She wanted to go home that night. She wanted to finish school. She wanted to do her nails. She was really good at doing nails. She had goals.”

IMPD arrested a 17-year-old boy Saturday morning. He faces a preliminary charge of reckless homicide, according to police.

His friends say the gun didn’t belong to him and aren’t sure how it happened.

“He said I can’t sit with this bad conscious on my body like that,” friend Javeo said. “He’s going to think about this —. It’s an accident.”

As investigators review camera footage, the Vasquez family hopes justice will be served.