INDIANAPOLIS — Derrick Houston Jr. was shot and killed waiting for his school bus on April 20.
The 15-year-old attended Arsenal Tech High School.
“We just couldn’t understand it – not this kid” Virginia Hale, Derrick’s grandmother said.
Police say the 15-year-old was shot while near his bus stop near 38th Street and Post Road. Houston Jr. was taken to a local hospital where he later died.
"He never saw it coming. 15-year-old kid – 6:30 in the morning just waiting on a school bus to go to school, very excited because he just got the news the day before about the scholarship,” Hale said.
The initial 911 call came from a bus driver who saw the body while nearing a stop, according to IMPD.
The driver told police he had 22 students on their bus at the time.
“I just remember one of the staff came out from the hospital and they told us that he didn’t make it. I remember my son it was like the light just left his eyes,” Hale said.
For nearly the last month Derrick’s family says they have searched nonstop trying to find who took his life away. Hale said she has called detectives at least four times a week.
“He was a kid that went to school and then went home. He didn’t hang out. His mom didn’t really allow them outside playing. He was really big on being a big brother,” Hale said.
Hale said Derrick just got a scholarship and wanted to grow up and work on cars like his father.
His family said that he was working with a group at school that focuses on gun violence prevention.
“We don’t want his death to be another statistic another number then it’s over,” Hale said.
Hale added that Derrick's mother would usually walk her son to his bus stop, because the area was in a residential area and well lit. Knowing that the teenager would be safe getting to school.
Now they just want answers.
“I would want the person to turn themselves in, face whatever repercussions that they need to face and get help and ask for forgiveness, but don’t just leave my grandson out on this ground like he is a piece of trash,” Hale said.
The circumstances surrounding Houston's death have not yet been released. It remains under investigation by IMPD.
Anyone with information should contact IMPD or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 or contact Detective Ryan Clark at the IMPD Homicide Office at 317.327.3475 or e-mail him at Ryan.Clark@indy.gov.
