INDIANAPOLIS — Police are still trying to get in touch with the father of 8-year-old Kendrielle Brye. Kendrielle died on Sunday, after she was dropped off at a fire station with gunshot wounds.
Kendrielle's father, Kendall Brye, is wanted for questioning.
As Kendriell's family is making funeral arrangements, her uncle told RTV6 about the vivacious 8-year-old who died at her east side home.
"Mom is coping, we're still absolutely all devastated of course," Dewars White, the brother of Kendrielle's mom, said. "Kendrielle was an awesome child. She was brilliant; she was smart; she had a lot of energy."
White said it's the memories and Kendrielle's spirit that keeps them going.
White and Kendrielle were close. They liked playing the card game UNO together. "I said, 'how do you know how to play UNO?' And she says, 'I'm an expert,'" White laughed. "Her words were very broad."
Now, the family is left trying to figure out how to move forward after what happened.
"When it comes to this incident It was an accident," White said.
That's what neighbors told RTV6, as well. But police are still trying to talk to 40-year-old Kendall Brye.
"When it comes to her father - we're embracing him," White said.
The family wants Brye to turn himself in.
"If he hears us - Kendall we love you. You know we embrace you, we want you back here with us," White said. "No one has spoken to him, but I believe within my heart that he will turn himself in."
Brye has previous felony convictions, but Pastor Kenneth Sullivan Junior wants to help him turn himself in safely.
Pastor Sullivan says he is willing to take Brye into police himself.
"They have been able to offer and extend to me the assurance that the safe surrender would be just that - safe," Pastor Sullivan said.
And he has a message to other parents:
"I believe this is an accident, but just for parents to really be careful with firearms and their weapons around their children in their homes."
Kendrielle's family is hosting a public prayer vigil outside her home on Culver Street on Saturday afternoon. They want her classmates to come and participate in a balloon release.
