Father of 19-year-old killed in Parkland mourns her loss

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - A Louisville father is mourning his daughter just months before her 20th birthday.

Andrea Perks was shot several times Wednesday morning on South 32nd Street and Hazel Street. Her father, Antonio Perks, Sr., just wants answers.

In a matter of days he goes from planning her birthday to now planning her funeral. Her death has left his family with a huge hole in their hearts.

“I really don’t have any words for real,” Perks said. “I just want justice.”

Perks has always been described by his family as the life of the party and now that same man is speechless.

The Louisville Metro Police Department said a woman was shot in the Parkland neighborhood on Wednesday around 11:30 a.m. with no identification. Perks was told about his daughter’s death around 6 p.m. that day after she was fingerprinted and identified. He recalls that as one of the toughest moments of his life.

“It’s the toughest thing I’ve ever had to encounter, endure, see,” Perks said. “To see my daughter’s body riddled with bullets and the smell of the blood. The tubes and all of the bleeding. I won’t be able to get the image of my first-born out of my head.”

Perks is now trying to remember the good times he had with Andrea, thinking back to his 40th birthday party where he danced with his daughter.

“She liked to dance,” Perks said. “She’ll crack jokes and make you smile. She had one of the best smiles since birth and I’ll never see it again.”

The last few days have been torture for Perks. The teen’s father said he hasn’t slept or eaten in the last 72 hours. With the shooter still not in custody, he has more questions than answers.

“Why,” Perks said. “You know what I mean? That’s where I’m at right now. Just why? What did she do that bad to you that you had to shoot her like a dog?”

The family hosted a memorial for Andrea on Saturday to honor her. But if you ask her protective father, he had another reason for the memorial.

“Honestly, I was just trying to seek out the killer,” Perks said. “I really was. They say the killer always returns to the crime scene. Especially when they think they got away with it.”

That plan came with no solutions, and now he’s asking the community for help. Perks is dreading letting Andrea’s two-year-old daughter know her new reality.

“We got to explain that to her,” Perks said. “That’s probably going to be the hardest thing we gotta do right now. Besides bury my child. I don’t know.”

Perks said Andrea and his granddaughter have their birthday’s just eight days apart and he plans to have a huge celebration to honor them both. His granddaughter will be turning 3 years old.

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