Krystal Walton: Indianapolis Mother Shot Dead Dropping Kids Off At Day Care
Law enforcement officials said that Krystal Walton was dropping off her children at an Indianapolis daycare pm Friday, September 16, 2022, when she was shot dead.
Krystal Walton was a lot of things to her two children, friends and family. Her father said she was a hero.
“The reason Krystal is a hero is because this had to happen in order to prevent some of you from going through the same exact thing,” Walton’s dad told a local TV station.
The joyful mother who did everything she could for her two children, but she was in an abusive relationship with the father of her youngest child.
Law enforcement officials said that Walton was dropping off her children at an Indianapolis daycare pm Friday, September 16, 2022, when she was shot dead.
If I had one word to describe Krystal it was joyful," her friend Shawnta Barnes told with WRTV. "She always had a sense of joy about her and she wanted you to feel joy and I am saddened that her children will not be able to experience that joy."
Orlando Mitchell was shot by police after he wouldn’t drop a rifle he was holding, law enforcement said.
According to WRTV, Walton called police about Mitchell on several occasions. In one particularly violent incident in March 2021, Walton, who was four months pregnant, called 911 saying that Mitchell had choked and attacked her.
Court documents cited by the TV station allege that Walton believed Mitchell would kill her one day.
“We have to get these, we have to have to get these cases right,” Republican Candidate for Marion County Prosecutor, Cyndi Carrasco told reporters at a vigil for Walton. “Krystal unfortunately had a history where she did everything she needed to do. She did everything to protect her children.”
Lori Striddle, a co-worker of Walton’s, told the TV station that she feels that the justice system must share some responsibility for the tragedy.
"The main message I want domestic violence perpetrators to know especially when children are involved is you have children that are now parentless. You have a child whose father killed his mother," Barnes said. "I mean my heart goes out to when that child when he has to learn what happened. I would say remember the children that are involved. Come around them shelter them."
If you are going through a domestic violence situation, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
