Family, friends mourn teen killed at Lawrence party

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — All day, people took time to honor and remember a 14-year-old shot and killed at a birthday party in Lawrence last week.     

It comes during a time when police are looking for one of the shooters.     

It may have looked like a party on 25th and Hillside Saturday afternoon, but the people in attendance had heavy hearts.    

“I just want my baby back,” said Cheree Sampson, the mother of Daron Johnson, who people called Manny.    

Last Saturday was the first time Sampson let Manny, who she described as “a momma’s boy,” go to a party.     

“When I went there, I investigated the party because I don’t just drop off, do drop-offs, it was parents there, smaller children,” she said. “I felt comfortable leaving my son there.”    

A confrontation between two people led to a fight between two groups.An exchanged of gunfire left five teens shot, including Manny.

Police say Manny was not involved in the fight, but he was critically injured last week and taken off life support on Friday.     

“If could have left my baby on there forever I would have,” said Sampson. “If I could have brought him home, I would.”     

So Saturday afternoon, family and friends celebrated how this eighth grader will live on through others. He would do anything to help his brother with disabilities.    

“He changes his brother, he bathes him, he feeds him,” said Sampson.     

But the gathering was also a time for the community, children and parents, to take a hard look in the mirror.    

“We got to get inside these homes. We got to talk mental health,” said Derris Ross, founder of the Ross Foundation, a nonprofit in Indianapolis. “We got to talk trauma and education, poverty, jobs.” 

Ross said parents need to pay attention to who their kids are hanging out with and secure any weapons in the house.    

The calls for action intertwined with grief over Manny’s death.

So as they pray and work to stop the violence, Johnson’s family wants anyone else responsible for this to come forward.                 

Lawrence police are looking for a second suspect. Call 317-262-TIPS with any information.