Mother seeks justice after boy, 7, killed in East Chicago: 'Cold-blooded murderers ambushed my car'

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Rainbow Push Coalition members are asking for help in finding the person who killed 7-year-old Jeremiah Moore in East Chicago last week.

He was in a van, coming home from visiting his grandmother, when someone fired into their car.

"I want justice for my son. Yes, I do," said Moore's mother, Ollie Holliness. "I want no mother to feel this way."

Holliness spoke publicly for the first time about the shooting that claimed the life of her young son.

The mother of six, who is also just over six months pregnant, pled for answers Wednesday morning, with the support of the Rainbow Push Coalition. They're hoping someone will come forward with information that will lead to an arrest.

"We cannot have communities that are havens for those who perpetrate these types of crimes," said Bishop Tavis Grant, the Rainbow Push Coalition national field director.

Relatives said the attack happened during the early morning hours of July 12 as Moore, his parents and three other children traveled in a van on their way back to their East Chicago, Indiana, home after visiting the kids' grandmother in Chicago.

Family members said they'd moved to the state to escape the violence of the city.

Valerie Davis said she also did the same years ago.

"My heart went out when I heard this story," Davis said.

Holliness said the family stopped for gas at the corner of East Columbus Drive and Pulaski Street. That's when they noticed a red dodge charger with tinted windows.

But it was when they were just blocks from home that the unthinkable happened. Someone in that same car opened fire on their van.

"Cold-blooded murderers ambushed my car," Holliness said.

Moore, who was sleeping at the time of the attack, was struck in the back of the head and eventually died at the hospital.

His mother said he loved video games.

"They left a hole so big in my soul that can't nothing fill it, but at least just a piece of comfort would come from knowing the people who hurt my baby and could have hurt the rest of us, is behind bars," Holliness said.

Fear and trauma has forced the family to relocate once again.

East Chicago Police said they continue to investigate the shooting.

Anyone with information about this shooting should contact Detective Daniel Ponce at dponce@eastchicago.com or 219-391-8318. You can also call in an anonymous tip at 219-391-8500.