LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Just before 11 a.m. Monday, in broad daylight, 15-year-old Dovia Pernell was found shot and killed in the Parkway Place apartment complex in the Algonquin neighborhood.
"It's heart-wrenching. It's heart-wrenching," Ben Johnson, assistant director of the recreation division at Louisville Parks & Recreation, said.
It was a life taken away too soon.
Staff at Parkhill Community Center said Dovia was not a regular, but she came to the center before. The coroner told WHAS11 that her adoptive parents state her address is in Union, Kentucky.
It's heartbreaking for the center because it happened just across the street.
"When I hear about things like that, particularly the proximity, I call my team. I want to see how they are doing – 99 times out of 100, they know the young person."
Johnson is not at the center every day but said other staff and kids at the center knew Pernell.
"They'll help me know, 'remember Mr. B he was down here and she.... or he and I was like 'oh I do remember' it is miserable it's almost like losing one of your own children," Johnson said..
This loss is tough. The center serves as a lifeline for young people, and they depend on it. It's filled with activities to keep kids busy. Now, some are grieving Pernell's loss.
"Let's think about her family, let's think about the kids in this community that's two separate groups the kids in the community and the kids that might have known her from the community center, but she also had a school family," Johnson said.
At the end of the day Pernell is another young person who wasn't in school on Monday morning.
"If that's who sat behind you in math class, that loss you know forever," Johnson said.
The family has a GoFundMe set up to raise money towards Dovia's funeral expenses.
If you have any information that can help police in this case, you are asked to call their Anonymous Tip Line at (502) 574-LMPD (5673) or use their online Crime Tip Portal.
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