Gray is from Merrillville, but was in Gary for a barbeque.
ABC7 spoke to the mother of both women, Drenice Gray, who said her daughters were not the intended targets of the shooting. According to Gray, she and both of her daughters were at a friend's barbeque late Saturday, early Sunday when the shooting took place on 1313 Ellsworth Street on a block that is notorious for gun violence in Merrillville.
Mrs. Gray told ABC7 that she decided to leave the barbeque early and that both of her daughters walked her to her vehicle that was in front of the house. The victim's mother saw a large group of people standing on the corner and that there was a car driving past them. Gray said she believes the men on the corner targeted those in the car, and it was stray bullets that hit Andrea in the head, killing her, and also hitting her other daughter in the neck. Her second daughter is still hospitalized.
No arrests have been made. Gary Police say they are having trouble getting anyone in the neighborhood to talk to them.
"We are asking for people to come forward and give us specifics so we can have a direction to move in," said Commander Samuel Roberts, Gary Police Department.
In fact, community activist Dwight Taylor was out at the site of the shooting with a megaphone trying to get people to come out of their homes. More than one resident said Monday they are just too afraid.
"I don't know who did it, and I didn't stick my nose in it. Too much can happen to you," said the neighbor.
Andrea Gray would have started school Monday. She was preparing herself to become an administrative assistant.
"She always wanted to make something of herself. She said she was getting too old, that she better get out there and start doing something with her life right now. She was a happen-go-lucky person," said Drenice Gray.
The owner of the home where the barbecue took place told ABC7 there was another party going on just up the street from her, and that it appears the shooting originated there. She and her guests were all in the backyard at the time of the shooting. By the time they came to the front and found out would had happened, it was impossible to tell who had been responsible for the shootings.
