'Beef' ends with downtown shooting of 7 Indianapolis kids, draws national headlines
INDIANAPOLIS — An ongoing feud among teens spilled blood onto downtown streets Saturday with the shooting of seven minors, shining a national spotlight on the city's struggle with youth violence.
The attack was a pre-meditated act that stemmed from 'beef' between groups, police said Monday. While much about the shooting, such as who fired the shots, remained under investigation into Monday afternoon, what is known is that the continuing problem of Indianapolis kids pulling the trigger or being on the receiving end of gunfire has become a near-daily headline.
Violence among people 17 and younger is one of the few areas of crime that has increased in Indianapolis, despite the number of homicides and shootings going down for the third year in a row.
Last week alone, a bullet struck a 5-year-old girl. A drive-by shooting injured another juvenile. A 15-year-old was arrested in a shooting at a motel. And the same day of the shooting downtown, a 15-year-old was arrested for a separate shooting in March on the northwest side of the city.
More: Indianapolis killings in March 2024
In the latest shooting, officers found the injured juveniles after hearing gunshots shortly after 11:30 p.m. in the first block of West Maryland Street near Steak '&'n Shake one one corner and The Sugar Factory on another. Six of the people shot were taken to hospitals. Police soon learned a seventh injured person was admitted to Community Hospital South.
All of the injured, which included two 16-year-old boys, one 16-year-old girl, three 14-year-old girls and one 12-year-old boy, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Two other minors not directly involved in the shooting were arrested on preliminary resisting charges, Police Chief Christopher Bailey said.
Hours before the shooting, the four state IHSAA boys basketball championship games wrapped up at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Police said there’s “no indication that this was tied to the state basketball games.”
Bailey said police and city officials are looking at "all avenues of the law" to determine what they can do in the immediate to prevent similar shootings from occurring in the future. When asked if creating a curfew is being considered, Bailey and the city's mayor did not rule it out.
"We shouldn't have 12-year-olds downtown ever that late at night," he said.
Long-term solutions on youth violence in Indianapolis
As the number of kids in Indianapolis killed or injured in shootings rises, the city has also responded by creating a position solely dedicated to curbing youth violence. The Office of Public Health and Safety is seeking to hire a Chief Violence Prevention Officer tasked with addressing “the root causes of crime and addictions.”
According to the city office, 45 people have applied for the role. Applications will close April 5.
Shortly after the shooting, Mayor Joe Hogsett pointed to the Chief Violence Prevention Officer as a key part of the city's violence reduction goals. He emphasized his remarks on Monday.
"What is a 12-year-old doing in downtown Indianapolis after midnight on a weekend, unattended and unsupervised?" he questioned.
As the city seeks candidates, the shooting also touches on another issue officials grapple with: Improving the perception of downtown.
The city has embarked on efforts to lure people back to the heart of the city, including creating a mini park on Monument Circle, after the Covid-19 pandemic deserted office buildings.
"An isolated incident cannot allow us to lose focus on our mission — for Downtown Indianapolis to be a desirable, inviting destination where all of us can feel safe living, working, and playing," Downtown Indy president and CEO Taylor Schaffer said in a statement Monday.
Schaffer added that she's spoken to stakeholders concerned about the impact on downtown businesses and how safety is perceived. Schaffer said Downtown Indy will continue its commitment to curb violence in Indianapolis through partnerships with city officials and property owners and with investments in public safety technology.
City-County Councilor Kristin Jones, who represents the area where the shooting occurred, said that while the city and police have made progress by increasing patrols and surveillance cameras, the causes of violence lie beneath the surface.
"We must confront the underlying factors that contribute to the normalization of firearms as a means of resolving disputes, and there is not one solution," Jones said. "It requires a collective commitment of all of us working together as elected officials, community and faith leaders, parents, caregivers, and everyone to dismantle the culture of gun violence and create a safer city for all."
A recent report exploring the growing problem sought to find such solutions and simultaneously showed the gravity of the problem. According to the study, Indianapolis’ youth homicide rate has tripled since 2016.
So much so, the report found that for every homicide in the city, there are three to four shootings of youth in Indianapolis.
“To fully address a problem, we need to understand it,” said Lauren Magee, the researcher who prepared the report. “It's the first step in a public health approach. You need data to identify who is most at risk and who is being impacted by a problem.”
The report shows Black youth are nine times more likely to be shot in Indianapolis compared to youth of other races. It also notes that youth firearm injuries are more concentrated on the city's east side.
Magee made several recommendations for addressing youth violence in the report:
Expand the Indy Peace Fellowship program to focus on young people between the ages 12 and 17.
Continue the Non-fatal Shooting Advocates program through IMPD and develop partnerships with community groups to ensure that victims and families are connected with the services they need following a non-fatal injury.
Form a partnership between the city and community groups to provide free gun locks and safes with public health campaigns on the importance of safe storage practices.
Evaluate all youth programs and violence reduction efforts in the city to determine effectiveness.
Begin an advisory committee of key stakeholders and youth to help develop and evaluate youth-focused interventions.
Catching youth 'more upstream'
In the afternoon hours on Saturday, before the gunfire downtown, Dee Ross watched as hundreds of kids swarmed his namesake’s park, hunting for Easter eggs.
A whopping 10,000 eggs were scattered throughout the grassy park on the northeast side for families to find. He and volunteers for his organization, The Ross Foundation, had placed four thousand of the eggs. The rest were strewn in the field via helicopter.
“The only time kids will see a helicopter in that community is from the news or law enforcement,” Ross said. “I wanted to bring a different exposure to our community.”
It’s a strenuous task for a small crew. What makes the event worth it is seeing the joy on the kids’ faces, he said. The egg hunt also serves a deeper purpose. Each family was required to fill out a form that asks about potential needs such as food, housing, pro bono legal services and more. Ross said his team either helps families then and there, or one of his members follows up within a couple days.
To Ross, serving basic needs may be the difference-maker in whether someone decides to pull a trigger, rob, steal or otherwise become involved in crime.
"Anywhere you see violence, you can track back to their households to the root causes: Systemic poverty," he explained.
He would know, he said. He grew up in poverty, in the same neighborhood he now serves, and reigned as a gang leader.
“If I would have had access to these opportunities in life, what it would’ve done for me in life, it would’ve directed me to a better path earlier on,” he said. His foundation has now grown into a successful nonprofit.
Bailey, the city's police chief, shares a similar philosophy.
"We have to get more upstream with our youth, try to get them earlier on in their lives to help them understand the consequences of gun violence," he told news media on Monday.
Reporters Jake Allen and Jade Thomas contributed to this report.
Contact reporter Sarah Nelson at sarah.nelson@indystar.com
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Downtown shooting brings national spotlight to Indianapolis struggle
