MARION, Ind. (WTHR) - A 19-year-old Marion man is dead after a shooting early Tuesday evening.
Marion police were called to the 3200 block of South Felton Street on a report of shots fired. As officers investigated, dispatchers received a report that a person had been shot.
Officers learned that Maurtreyviaun Sanders, 19, went to the Felton St. residence where his father was working and told him he had been shot.
The victim died a short time later at Marion General Hospital.
It had just gotten dark Tuesday. Next to a church, the last daycare kids had just been picked up. Mistie, a neighbor, heard a noise.
“Two gunshots while I sat on the edge of my bed,” she told Eyewitness News. “I thought it was maybe fireworks. Then I saw police cars and asked what was going on and they said a shooting.“
The victim was a 19-year-old aspiring athlete.
“His name is Maurtreyviaun Sanders, but we called him Trey,” said Lucille Neal, his grandmother
Trey played football and basketball at Marion High School. He graduated last year and was working toward a spot on a college team. Those dreams ended Tuesday on Marion’s south side.
“He ran two blocks and then collapsed in his dad‘s arms," said family friend Pamela Anderson. "Heartbreaking."
"He walked in the door and said he had been shot. And he immediately, he lifted up the shoulder and showed where he been shot and they took him to the hospital. Last words he said, 'they were trying to get me, they were trying to rob me,'” Neal told us.
At least one shot struck Trey in the shoulder and neck area. He ran south on Felton Street to a house where is father was working.
They drove him to the ER by car, fighting the clock.
"It was wrong," said Neal. "He was a kid that never bothered nobody. He stayed to himself. He loves basketball. He didn’t carry no weapons. He carried a basketball.“
Trey's great aunt, Vanessa Jordan, went to the crime scene Thursday night.
“I just think it’s so unfair for these young kids to be running around hurting each other for no reason. We love them, we care about them," Jordan said. “We are grieving now and hoping they will find that person. But we’re just gonna pray for him. And may God bless him.“
There's a candlelight walk set for this Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. Trey’s family and guests will walk from the block where Trey was shot, then two blocks down to where he fell into his father's arms.
An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday. Police are still looking for suspects.