INDIANAPOLIS — With tears in their eyes and heads hung low, balloons were released in honor of 18-year-old Ariel Calhoun.
"I never thought that I would be getting ready to cremate my daughter," said Crystal Conner, Calhoun's mother.
IMPD said Calhoun was fatally shot Sunday night on Scarborough Boulevard and Crest Lane, near Hague Road and East 75th Street, just a few blocks from where she lived with her mom on the city's northeast side.
"For me to hear gunshots and I know my baby went to the gas station, then something didn't sit right," Conner said. "I felt something in my gut saying something is not right. That has to be Ariel. I don't understand. I felt it in my spirit. There's just something wrong."
Conner said she rushed to the scene and would later learn her daughter was the one who was killed.
"My baby was being chased and she was running home to me, and she did not make it because they shot her before she could come on this next block to me. She was running to me. And Ariel didn't deserve to be shot down or anything," Conner explained as tears rolled down her cheeks.
As for justice in Calhoun's death, her mom said that's not up to her, but up to a higher power.
"I just hope, whoever, it bothers them too bad that maybe they turn themselves in," Conner said. "Maybe them taking my daughter will change their life. I don't know. You know, it's just hurtful. It's all just hurtful."
Calhoun's mother said her daughter graduated early at just 16 years old and loved working on cars.
As for the person responsible for Calhoun's death, IMPD said it's still under investigation.