INDIANAPOLIS— At Lou Malnati's Pizzeria in Broad Ripple you'll find employees wearing purple t-shirts that say 'We need your love.' The back shows ways you can support their employee Taby Reed.
"She’s the face to our guests but she’s very much of the core arteries of the heart of the store," said Alexander Smith, the general manager at Lou Malnati's in Broad Ripple.
On November 25th at around 2:30 in the morning police were called to S State Avenue near E Washington for a shots fired call.
Alice Story, Taby's grandmother, says she got a call from her grandson.
"He says there’s someone here that wants to talk to you about Taby and I said what about Taby, he said she’s been shot," said Story.
Story tells WRTV that Taby was near the train tracks on State Avenue when the car in front of her either stopped or was driving very slowly. Story says Taby beeped at that person and then passed them, that's when the driver shot her.
"She has suffered brain damage," said Story.
Story says she is able to open her eyes and on Sunday started slowly talking again.
"I was so happy. I just burst into tears. I said you don’t have to tell me you love me. I know you do," said Story.
Right now, the top priority is Taby's recovery, but Story says she still has questions.
"This person who did this I have no hate. I have no bitterness toward him. Hate is not in me. I just want clarification on why this happened," said Story.
Story is also stressing that a gun is never the answer.
"I just want people to understand that aggression, gun activity, whatever anger issues you have, gun activity is not a solution," said Story.
All five Lou Malnati's locations in Indianapolis will be raising funds for Taby. On January 4th there will be a fundraiser for her. QR codes on where to donate money are at the restaurants and they will also be taking cash donations that will be matched through the Malnati's Match program.
