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Family of Lawrence teen killed at birthday party pleads for justice, end to violence

Posted at 6:12 PM, Jun 16, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-18 06:17:55-04

LAWRENCE, Ind. -- The family of a Lawrence teen who died Friday after being shot at a birthday party last weekend is joining forces with others in the community to call for a ceasefire and an end to the violence. 

Cheree Samson has been speaking out against the violence since her 14-year-old son, Daron, was shot in the head while attending a birthday party at the Lawrence Lion's Club last Saturday. 

Four other teens were shot but received non-life threatening injuries. Daron didn't survive. 

"Please, just please show my baby some justice," Samson said. "He was only 14. He was a mama's boy."

READ | 14-year-old dies after being shot atbirthdayparty

One 14-year-old has already been arrested in connection with the shooting, but police believe there is at least one other juvenile out there who may have fired shots. 

Samson wants to make sure everyone involved in the death of her son faces justice

"I just want everyone to come forward and just please say something -- please that's all I ask because this is horrible and I can't take it," Samson said. "My baby suffered for no reason - his first birthday party I ever let him go to."

Antonio Patton is the founder of "Men of Vision Empowering" and he believes the recent violence has a type and that there is only way to solve the problem. 

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"Confused and unloved young men reaching for hate over love," Patton said. "It takes for other men with no hidden agendas, no hidden motives and love for these young men."

Patton says their goal is to show these men that love is stronger than hate - and their lives mean more. 

"With the gun violence we want the stuff to stop, we're tired of little boys laying on the sidewalk or in the gutters or in the alleys," Patton said. 

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