Indy Peace Fellow, city worker shoots self during gun search warrant
Police at my door. (Sent at 5:52 p.m. on July 14)
This would be the last text message Tanna Drye would receive from her 25-year-old son. The mother would then video chat with him while officers with the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force surrounded his Linwood Manor apartment on the city's east side. Her 3-year-old grandson was also inside the apartment with his father.
Everything her son had worked hard for was at a standstill once again. She figured he'd confess to the actions that led police to his door and take accountability like he had before. Knowing he would be rearrested, she drove to his apartment to pick up his child. But then, her son's apologetic tone suddenly shifted.
"He's like, 'Mama, I love you. I'm sorry, but I gotta go," Tanna Drye told IndyStar. "'Tell my little brothers I love them. Tell everybody I'm sorry and I love them.' I heard him kiss Ky'Aire and say, 'I love you, buddy. I'll see you later,' and then I heard a boom."
DaShawn Drye was pronounced dead at the scene. The task force was at his apartment after getting a tip about firearms. They were conducting a search warrant, knocking on the door twice, before they heard a gunshot from inside.
DaShawn Drye was a father who worked as a garbage collector for the Indianapolis Department of Public Works. He had met with Mayor Joe Hogsett weeks before the shooting at an Indy Peace Fellowship graduation. He'd also begun sharing his story about being caught in a cycle of crime on local podcasts.
Tanna Drye was 14 years old and in foster care when she gave birth to DaShawn. His father was an 18-year-old who would spend most of his adult life in and out of jail. DaShawn Drye was the oldest of four boys, and being on Section 8 housing assistance meant the boys grew up in areas of the city riddled with poverty and crime.
She remembers the moment that solidified for her that her oldest was going down the wrong path.
"He got jumped at (Arsenal) Tech (High School) when he was 16," Tanna Drye said. "So, after that, he got a gun for protection."
In a podcast interview posted on YouTube in April of this year, DaShawn Drye said a fascination with guns started when he was 14 years old. He took his mother's boyfriend's gun and shot it randomly, sending an adrenaline rush through him.
His mother tried to guide him in the right direction to get a job, so at 16, he started working at a restaurant, but minimum wage wasn't enough to care for his family, who started to experience homelessness.
"My mom was messing with a dude who was basically getting it on in the streets," DaShawn Drye said in the interview. "I'm seeing the bankrolls... So, I hit him up and said I'm quitting my job, and I want you to show me how to get it."
He got his first car by age 17 and was able to help his mother pay bills, but he'd been caught with a firearm and crack while hanging out downtown and taken to the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center.
DaShawn Drye never finished high school, and after doing his time for a juvenile charge, he would be faced with an attempted murder charge at the age of 18 in 2018.
His mother said DaShawn Drye was targeted in a gas station drug deal setup.
"As soon as we walk in, we're surrounded by these people and this other boy comes up to fight him," Tanna Drye said.
According to court documents, DaShawn Drye was punched by another teen, so he pulled a gun and fired multiple rounds in and around the store, before driving off and taking police on a high-speed chase.
A Delaware County sheriff's deputy arrested Drye during a traffic stop, but before he was caught, police allege his mother threw the handgun used in the shooting from their vehicle before it was recovered. She was preliminarily charged with obstruction of justice, but those charges were later dropped.
"Somebody could have gotten hurt who didn't have nothing to do with anything," DaShawn Drye remorsefully recounted in the interview. "Cause I was being reckless. It was a woman holding her baby right next to that door... I would never want to put a child's life in danger."
He would be found guilty of criminal recklessness, but with credit for time served and good behavior, he was released from jail two years later.
DaShawn Drye said 48 days after he walked home a free man, he caught a new case carrying a firearm and heroin. He'd be placed on house arrest, but someone had taught him a trick to block his ankle monitor's signal so he couldn't be traced, and he rejoined the street and gang life.
"I'm going out on missions, shooting up houses and doing things, like if you know you know," DaShawn Drye said in the interview.
Unbeknownst to him, a federal investigation had been started on him and the gang.
"They hacked a female's page from the city and had been watching me the whole time," DaShawn Drye said. "So, one day I posted some weed, and that page hit my line."
This time, he'd go to prison, and although his mother was there for him emotionally, she didn't have the financial means to put money on his books. So, while inside, he would beat and rob people for resources. He'd catch a felony while fighting his original case because of the injuries he caused a man while trying to rob him for food.
He was transferred to Miami Correctional Facility in 2019, which he said would change his perspective on life because of the level of violence he'd seen. He claimed the nurses wore bulletproof vests, and his sixth day there, his bunkie was stabbed in their cell over 30 times.
The worst part was having to watch his son grow up through a screen.
"I'm tired of doing time. I'd rather be here for my son and be a real father and give him the childhood I never had."
When he got out of prison, he became a full-time parent and received multiple certificates from Job Force. He got his first apartment, and Tanna Drye said she was so excited to see him get a full-time job with the city. She could tell he wanted to do better for himself and help others steer away from a life of crime, so he joined the Indy Peace Fellows.
"But he just couldn't get away from those guns," Tanna Drye said. "He was buying and selling them out of the apartment. Somebody tipped off the police, and I don't know what happened in that prison, but he didn't want to go back. Now, my baby is gone."
She said he was on a spiritual journey and wanted to become a motivational speaker for other young people. Now, his mother is left heartbroken that he couldn't escape the hold the streets had on him when he was doing so well.
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