COLUMBUS, Ohio — At the core of new developments is a person. Tearicka Cradle.
“Outside of her educational endeavors she inspired to be the best mother, daughter [and] grandmother,” Victor Peoples said.
Peoples remembers Cradle, his friend of 15 years.
“It truly says that we never know,” he said. “It’s always the individuals that are making a difference that the strangest things happen to.”
Cradle, a City of Columbus employee in the Department of Building and Zoning was shot and killed July 18. Police say Lonnie Davis and Ivan Netter, during an attempted robbery at Cradle’s home, shot and killed her. Davis was arrested Thursday. Netter hasn’t yet been captured.
“I have no words,” Peoples said. “I just don’t understand it.”
Peoples is glad for Davis' arrest but is concerned Netter is still out there.
“It’s hard because you never know, A, who did this but then, B, where are they at, what are they doing now and who’s next,” Peoples said.
This story isn’t about Davis or Netter. Not for Peoples. It’s not about the growing number of homicides in Columbus. His friend wasn’t a number.
She was a mother. She was a grandmother. She was an aunt. She was a friend.
“The way that she was able to reach across the aisle, behind the fact that she really embodied ‘each one teach one’, but more importantly she was true,” Peoples said. “She was true to what she said she was going to do.”