INDIANAPOLIS — He lives in Chicago, but Andrew Holmes found himself on the north side of Indianapolis Thursday, gazing at a bullet hole in a window, a sign of the gunfire that erupted at a Halloween party where Holmes' grandson, Terrell, was on Sunday, Oct. 29.
Ten people were shot. One of them, 16-year-old Kalin Washington, was killed.
Holmes, who's a community activist and crisis responder in Chicago, was on his way to a shooting there when he got the call that Terrell had been shot.
"I didn't want to answer that call. I knew there was something wrong because it was almost about the same time, I got the call about my daughter," Holmes said.
Eight years ago, Holmes got a similar call about his daughter, Tamara Sword, Terrell's mother, being shot and killed here in Indianapolis.
When that happened, Holmes told his grandson, who was already playing football, to keep going.
"I told him to just keep fighting because she's always there in spirit with you on that field. She's always running behind you," Holmes said.
Holmes had words of comfort for another family here in Indianapolis impacted by gun violence.
Thursday, he met with the mother of the teen found shot to death behind an east side apartment complex. The teen's family contacted Holmes, looking for help finding her from Holmes' organization, The Lock It Down Foundation.
"Yesterday, we got the news that they found her remains, but I told her, 'I'm still coming. I'm going to put up the reward to help catch the killer of that baby,'" Holmes said.
Now, Holmes is helping get the word out about the teen's death, hoping someone will have answers for another family looking for justice.
With all the gun violence Holmes sees — many times involving young people, both in Chicago and now again in his own family — he's got a message for parents.
"You got to get inside your children's lives. You can't just sit there and say, 'I love you,'" Holmes said.
IMPD said they have no updates on a suspect or suspects in Sunday's shooting. Holmes is hoping money talks in this case and someone will come forward with information leading to an arrest and conviction of those responsible.