Community anti-violence activist Andrew Holmes honors slain daughter, Tamara Sword, 5 years after unsolved murder

ByABC 7 Chicago Digital Team WLS logo
Sunday, August 23, 2020
Community activist Andrew Holmes still seeking justice 5 years after daughter's murder
Well-known Chicago anti-violence activist Andrew Holmes honored his daughter, Tamara Sword, on the fifth anniversary of her murder Saturday.

DOLTON, Ill. (WLS) -- Well-known Chicago anti-violence activist Andrew Holmes, a man known for working with families impacted by gun violence, honored his daughter on the fifth anniversary of her murder Saturday.

Holmes along with family members held a balloon release in Dolton for his daughter Tamara Sword. She was caught in the middle of a gunfight near an Indianapolis nightclub back in 2015.

RELATED: Community activist Andrew Holmes' daughter Tamara Sword fatally shot in Indianapolis

The crime scene was littered with some .45 caliber shell casings. The gunfire apparently came from several people involved in a scuffle at a night club next to a gas station. Sword was outside the station when the shooting started, but ran and jumped into a car hoping to find shelter from the bullets. It didn't work. Her father says she was shot in the chest and died.

The daughter of long-time Chicago anti-violence activist Andrew Holmes was gunned down near a mall in Indianapolis Saturday morning.

"Everybody says it's gonna be alright, no it will never be alright, cause my baby ain't here," Holmes said during the balloon release. "Then you say she's in a better place, we all pray and we believe in Christ. A better place is right here."

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Holmes says no one has been charged with his daughter's murder.