INDIANAPOLIS — Saturday makes five years with no answers or justice for an Indianapolis family after a ten-year-old boy was shot and killed.
According to police, De'Shaun Swanson ended up being the victim of senseless violence. The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.
“De'shaun Swanson was the rallying call for the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood, that is what caused the people to stand up, and because of that and say enough is enough, because of that the neighborhood has become a model for reducing the violence,” Rev. Charles Harrison, of Indy Ten Point Collation, said.
“For it to have gone on five years and we know people have information, but no one has come forward," Harrison said. "I hope that someone will be moved by their conscience so his family can have closure and justice."
Harrison has been working to stop the violence for years. This particular loss has always stuck with him.
"I had a son who was 10 years old at the time that could have been my son,” Harrison said.
WRTV talked with John Akin who lives in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood. He says his son played pop warner football with Swanson.
"Whoever done that outrageous crime should be held accountable for it," Harrison said.
He says one parent to another he knows what it’s like to worry.
“Being around this neighborhood your kids grow up and they say they’re going to the park you always wonder if they will come home safe and the only thing you can do is pray,” Akin said.
He just wants his community to break the code of silence so the Swanson family can find closure.
The fourth-grader wanted to become a professional basketball player when he grew up.
The $25,000 reward being offered is through Operation Legend, a federal effort announced last month to reduce gun violence in Indianapolis.
