'We don’t want to live without him': Family remembers homicide victim

INDIANAPOLIS -- “His smile. I think that smile touched everybody’s heart.”

The family of Brian Ward Junior's family described him as a carefree man, who loved to go on family vacations and match his father.

“He was my junior,” Brian Ward said about his son. “Had to be matching head to toe."

Ward Jr. was shot and killed Jan. 30 at an apartment complex off Plaza Drive on the city’s north side. Police arrested the suspected shooter the following day.

“This young man — my son — was a good person. He wasn’t one out here with no dreams, no ambitions, no goals,” Mary Ward, Brian’s mother said of her son.

According to court documents, the suspect, Jemerrell Hubbard, was released from jail just days before the shooting.

Hubbard was arrested on Jan. 26 for a misdemeanor charge and posted bond the next morning.

“Nobody wants to go through this nobody wants the sick feeling in the heart, and the needles feeling like it’s poking at their heart and their needle’s poking at their heart,” Mary Ward, Ward Jr.’s mother telling WRTV.

The Ward’s say they are learning to live without their son and trying to stay strong as they share his memory.

“We’re trying to cope the best we can," Mary Ward said. "We don’t want to live without him."

The Ward’s also shared a plea with others in the city.

“Speak up if you see it, so many families are hurting they are hurt behind this violence,” Brian’s father concluded.

The Ward’s say they want to start a non-profit to help men who are grieving the loss of a loved one. The family says often times the man in the house has to put on a strong persona for others. The Ward’s want to give an outlet where they can let that armor come off. No specifics about that plan have been finalized yet.