DALLAS — A Dallas County grand jury has indicted four men on capital murder charges related to a Fourth of July shooting in Hamilton Park that left three dead and three injured.
Akil Anderson, Taqualon Jones, Bryce Jones and Kejuan Lewis were all named in grand jury documents released Thursday.
Witnesses told WFAA at the time there were between 200 and 400 people at the neighborhood block party celebrating and watching fireworks in the streets
”We heard gunshots as we were taking off and my left side just went numb. ‘Ya’ll, I think I’m hit,’” Carolina Brown recalled saying to her friends at the time.
Brown was with her friends and sitting in the backseat of her car enjoying the fireworks when shots rang out. She told WFAA she and the passengers in her car were not involved in the altercation that took place that night.
Witnesses said the sound of fireworks masked the gunshots and bullets pierced the trunk of their car and struck the 19-year-old. Dallas police collected over 100 shell casings at the scene. There were between eight and nine shooters, according to Dallas police. Officials have not released a motive for the shooting at this time.
“I am livid. Death is so final, that’s the end. Who are you to play God?” said Brown’s mother Sunnie Tyler. Tyler knows she’s lucky to have her daughter. Brown wears her scars openly. She was hit in the thigh and the abdomen, and the family told WFAA the two bullets are still lodged inside her body.
“I can’t. What is that going to do? It’s not going to solve anything. They can’t take back that bullet and they can’t take back that day,” Brown said in response to whether she has anger or holds a grudge against the shooters.
Her mother wants justice. The indictments are a start. Her daughter is supposed to be in college studying nursing and running track. The family now bears the burden of mounting medical and rehab bills. There is also the burden of replacing Tyler's vehicle that has too many bad memories to drive again.
“Even her capacity to forgive is beyond measurement. I would rather it have been me,” Tyler said.
Brown still feels the physical pain from her wounds. She also cannot sit in the backseat of any car because the trauma is just too much.
To help the family with medical bills and unforeseen expenses, go to this GoFundMe page.