Family of quad homicide victim remembers ‘beautiful smile,’ shares photos at prayer vigil
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Dozens came out Thursday to honor the memory of four people killed in an apartment on the northeast side Wednesday night.
The shooting happened just before 10:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 4100 block of Shady Oak Drive in an apartment near East 42nd Street and Mitthoeffer Road.
The victims were identified Thursday. Their names are Braxton Ford, Kimari Hunt, Jalen Roberts and Marcel Wills. Each of the victims had not yet celebrated their 22nd birthday.
Relatives say they are all graduates of John Marshall Community High School nearby at 38th and Mitthoeffer.
Kimari’s aunt Dawn McDade said her niece had big plans.
McDade said Kimari was an excellent student with seven scholarships and thought of becoming a dentist to go along with her brilliant smile. Now McDade wishes she had left for schooling because she wouldn’t have been at the scene of the murders Wednesday night.
McDade and others lifted their prayers into the February night in front of the crime scene at the Carriage House East complex.
McDade said Kimari was soft-spoken, but goofy. “She had a beautiful smile, she could have been a Crest kid. She was gorgeous and they took her away from us.”
Relatives tell us Kimari was the girlfriend of Marcel Wills and that Wills was a cousin of the other two male victims Ford and Roberts.
Kimari’s mother was at the vigil, supported by dozens of other loved ones, community members and police officers. They were led by the staff chaplains of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, including Orlando Jordan Jr.
“If you don’t have any hope, if you don’t believe there’s any promise, what are we here for?” said Jordan.
One prayer uttered into the night was for the other young people gathered, that by coming together now, there won’t be a need for one of these again.
“There’s still purpose in the midst of all this pain that some other young person can see this and say I want to do something different. I want to do better than my surroundings,” Jordan Jr. said.
There was also a prayer for the killer or killers, that they would have no peace and be haunted by this until they come forward.
“You did something wrong, but it’s never too late to right this wrong,” he said.
But for now, the darkness is there, matched by the darkness in the apartment parking lot. The pain is very much present in the voice of McDade who is still in shock by the sudden passing of her niece who was filled with promise.
“This is where we live but when it hits close to home, it’s unbelievable,” she said. “I still can’t believe it. I can’t believe our Kamari, I can’t believe she’s gone.”
Police said Thursday there is no active threat but have released few other details about the shooter, motive or circumstances leading up to the shootings.
