INDIANAPOLIS — It’s been one year, but for the family of Keleante Brewer, it feels like just yesterday when they got the call the teen had been shot while walking to play basketball.
“A year later I’m still going through the pain. It still hurts just like it were yesterday,” said Keleante’s grandmother, Rhonda Brewer. “I’m not at closure. I wake up every day thinking about him.”
Keleante was only 15 when he was shot to death on Indy’s northeast side on June 15, 2021. According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD), the shooting took place in the 9800 block of Ellis Drive just before sunset.
IMPD officers found Keleante shot in the street and rushed him to a nearby hospital, where he later died.
“He had just left my house. He said, ‘Grandma, I love you, I’m going to play basketball.’ Forty-five minutes later his little brother was calling me saying, ‘Keleante had gotten shot,'” said Rhonda.
Rhonda will never forget that conversation or her grandson’s voice, and while she would give anything to have him back, she hopes by sharing his story and memories of him, she will keep him alive in the best way she can.
“He loved sports. He loved playing his games. He loved rapping. He swore he was going to be a rapper and build me a big brick house,” said Rhonda. “He was just an awesome kid. He was funny. He loved the kids, the kids loved him. He just got along with everybody.”
Keleante attended Phalen Leadership Academy and was remembered by his classmates and teachers as a great kid and a good student.
The teen was one of 17 juvenile homicide victims in 2021. His case remains unsolved, and Rhonda is hoping that someone decides it’s time to come forward with information that helps lead to an arrest.
“If it’s only one person, just come forward. Let us know. I thank everybody who can help us out,” said Rhonda.
She also hopes that the community will come together to provide information that helps lead to arrests in other cases and to collectively send the message that enough is enough.
“Families are going through this every day and we have to work together as a community to stop the violence of these young people. Our young people are our future and in order to have a future, we’ve gotta have our young people,” Rhonda said.
“You’re not only hurting yourself, you’re hurting families, communities, everybody hurts. Put the guns down. It’s not the way to go. We’re losing too many young people,” she added.
The deadly shooting of Keleante marked the city’s 7th homicide victim involving a person under 18 in 2021. This year, IMPD homicide reports show there have been 9 homicide victims under 18 to date.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call IMPD’s Homicide Branch at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers, where you will remain anonymous, at 317-262-TIPS.
