Teen siblings killed in shooting honored with peace walk
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Family and friends were among the dozens who gathered Saturday morning to remember a brother and sister who were killed Friday before school.
The peace walk honored Nicholas Nelson, 16, and Ashlynn Nelson, 15. The siblings were found shot and killed inside their apartment near 42nd Street and Post Road.
People met at the Community Alliance of the Far Eastside – known as CAFE – near 38th Street and Post Road.
They said prayers, talked about the great lives the siblings had lived, then walked about a mile and a half toward the Pathway Resource Center chanting “peace in the streets.”
City-county councilor La Keisha Jackson, who represents the district where the shooting happened, was among the community leaders who attended.
She says the last thing the community should do is to stay quiet.
“Silence now is a problem for our city. We need to stop being silenced to those who are committing these crimes and think it’s OK and sit back and laugh while we are burying loved ones and community members. It is not OK. We need to stop sitting back when we see that our family and loved one has a mental health issue. We need to reach out and start seeing how we can be a part of the solution instead of sitting back saying it’s not my problem. Guess what? It is your problem. It is our problem,” Jackson said.
There’s still no word on a motive for the shootings from police.
Family friends say the kids were successful students who had just transferred to Lawrence North High School this fall.
Nicholas even had a GPA of 4.6. He was also a farmer for Indy Urban Acres.
The organization posted pictures of him on Facebook, saying he was “one of the sweetest, hardest working kids that has ever graced Indy Urban Acres.”
Ashlynn was part of the CAFE’s teen employment program.
Jamarro Johnson, CAFE’s youth employment specialist, said Ashlynn was a very quiet, sweet, down-to-earth young lady.
She was matched with Trilogy Health Services and interned as an activities assistant for the elderly.
Johnson says Ashlynn loved helping people.