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INDIANAPOLIS – Keondre Davidson would have turned 20-years-old on Thursday, but last year on his birthday, he was shot and killed while at his own birthday celebration.
The shooting took place at the victim’s home on Salem Street in the Crown Hill neighborhood on Indy’s near north side just after 8:30 p.m.
When officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department arrived, they found Keondre and a woman had been shot. While the woman survived her injuries, Keondre didn’t make it.
On the first anniversary of his passing and his birthday, his family is choosing to celebrate his life and remember the impact that Keondre left on them.
“He had a heart of gold,” said his cousin, Kaiya Fox. “Everybody loved Dre. Everybody could tell you a story about him.”
“To know him, was to love him,” added Fox.
Fox shared that Keondre had two daughters, but one was born after he died, and never got to meet her dad.
“He had two great kids. You know, he did everything,” said Keondre’s mother, Chrystal Davidson.
Family shared that he was ambitious, worked with the community, and had dreams of becoming a police officer or working on an ambulance, maybe even enlisting in the service. He was a volunteer with the Tarkington Work Crew, a summer employment program at the MLK Center.
Now, his family and friends are left wondering when justice will come for their believed Dre, taken on what should have been a day filled with joy. On the one year anniversary of his passing, no arrests have been made in the case — something they hope comes soon.
Fox said, “Why did my cousin, her brother get killed in broad daylight and don’t nobody know nothing about it? How could somebody just walk up to his house and do that?”
As the first responders were rolling up to the scene last year, sirens blaring, members of the Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition Butler-Tarkington team were also making their way to the scene.
As they were nearby patrolling in the area, members of the team heard what they described as dozens of gunshots. Reverend Charles Harrison, Board President of the Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition, said he received a call from his team and also responded to the scene.
“I could tell some of the team members were starting to get emotional as they were trying to console family members and friends,” said Harrison. “That’s what’s so sad about this gun violence out here. The impact it has on so many people.”
While the group patrols the area and works to focus on helping reduce violence through its grassroots effort across the city, Harrison said he knows they can’t be everywhere at once. Still, it can feel personal if something happens, he said.
“You get sad, because you know, we’re trying to be out, trying to keep the peace, but you can’t be everywhere at the same time,” said Harrison. “We try to be very realistic. We have years where we don’t have any homicides, but realistically you know it’s not gonna last. There are so many factors that are gonna cause deadly violence and take people’s lives.”
“What you try to do is minimize it and reduce it as much as you can so that you don’t have an area that’s just having a lot of shootings that lead to homicides,” Harrison added.
Harrison said he hopes anyone with information will come forward and help this family.
“For the sake of the family, the family’s never gonna have real closure and peace unless the person involved is brought to justice,” said Harrison.
Family will hold a “Keondre’s 1st Annual Mental Health Awareness” rally on Saturday, May 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the MLK Center. Their mission is to encourage, educate and elevate on the importance of mental health, hoping to promote mental health awareness before another life is lost.
Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana anonymously at 317-262-TIPS.
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