INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.– Family members of a 13-year-old boy who was shot at a party over the weekend are pleading for more information about what happened the night of the incident.
De Andre Yates and Jerald Keys say somebody knows what happened to their son and that those people should come forward to tell police about it.
“If you know something, tell something so no other mother has to sit here and give a press conference begging and pleading for somebody to talk,” said Yates, the teen’s mother.
The shooting occurred just before midnight Saturday night at a house in the 3400 block of Aylesford Lane. The gathering started at a 15-year-old’s birthday party, according to Yates.
Officers were called to the house after a group of young people were told to leave the party and somebody fired shots back toward the house. At least one of the shots hit Jerald Keys’ 13-year-old son.
“Don’t nobody want to get that phone call at 12:30 at night, saying their child has been shot,” Keys said.
Investigators say there was at least one adult at the home at the time of the shooting. But despite adult supervision, Yates believes the party got out of control. She and police warned other parents about parties that are advertised on social media.
“If somebody’s advertising on social media and things like that, you don’t know what kind of crowd it could draw in,” Yates said.
Both Yates and Keys choked back tears while talking to reporters Monday afternoon. They described their son as an honor student who had just started in his first basketball game last week. But they say his big dreams focused on football.
“Of course he wanted to go to the NFL,” Yates said. “He wanted to go to Michigan or IU, and if none of that panned out he said he’ll be a firefighter.”
The parents said they wish they would have followed their gut instinct and not allowed their son to attend the party Saturday night. They each said they regretted the decision to let him go.
When asked about the outlook for their son’s recovery, they did not wish to comment.
Anyone with information about this case is urged to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
You can also call Crime Stoppers at (317) 262-TIPS.
Previous Story:
