People vow to take action after vigil after fatal shooting at Subway
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A community on the northeast side on Wednesday night mourned the loss of one of its own, a Subway employee gunned down in an armed robbery Monday night.
Dozens gathered at the Shadeland Station Shopping Center near East 75th Street and Shadeland Avenue. Through prayer, song and candles, people honored Ashok Kumar just feet away from where the 35-year-old was murdered.
“This is our community. This is our people. We can’t change what happened. We can’t make it not happen, but what we can do is come together and figure out how to make it better,” said event organizer Tandy Adams.
Kumar’s life tragically ended around 7:45 p.m. Monday inside Subway, where he had worked for eight years.
A candle sits in his memory outside the restaurant’s doors
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department says three people walked into the sandwich shop and tried to rob it at gunpoint. All three wore black and carried black backpacks. Two had on black face masks. The other had a leopard face mask.
That’s when police say some sort of altercation happened between the three people and Kumar. The suspects shot Kumar and took off. He died at the restaurant.
“He was a good guy. He worked every day for seven days, 60-70 hours,” said Subway owner Suresh Mangel.
Co-workers and the community braved the cold to remember him and to react to a coldhearted crime they say should have never happened.
The sandwich shop owner said, “We have to care about the community. We have to care about the center. We have to have a better security system. We have to have a better lighting system. They used to have a camera system but the new landlord they moved the cameras system and security system.”
As police continue to search for the suspects, the community will look for answers, too, in hopes the violence will someday stop.
The vigil organizer, Adams, said, “We’ve got to do something. What that is, I don’t know. I don’t have an answer. I am very happy to seek out the people who do. I think there’s a point where a community hits where it’s just time to take some action and I think, I hope that’s what this is about.”
As of Wednesday evening, police had announced no arrests in this case. Late Monday night, they released surveillance photos of the suspects in the restaurant.