INDIANAPOLIS — For the third time in three consecutive weekends, IMPD detectives are investigating a mass shooting that left several people, this time all children, injured.
Seven boys, all between the ages of 12 and 16, were shot to death at the corner of Illinois and Maryland streets south of Monument Circle around 11:37 p.m. Saturday.
There were no fatalities.
“Control, shots fired just south of Washington and Illinois. Multiple shots fired,” the first police radio came in.
“Controller, I hear multiple people were shot.”
“I took a shot of a male and a female opposite the sugar factory.”
“We need four medical workers right now,” a police officer advised over the radio.
“I put a tourniquet on him and gave the young man two shots. I've shot him five times so far. We're all going to be boys.”
“Twice the thigh bleed. He was shot three times.”
Dejah Studdard, a digital producer for FOX59 and CBS4, was having dinner with friends at the sugar factory when the incident occurred.
“Shots rang out,” Studdard said. “We don't know where the gunshots are coming from or in what direction. It looks like someone is coming into the sugar factory from outside. Everyone goes up to the floor. Everyone starts hiding under chairs and behind tables. It's crazy. There were people who looked like they were running away from something.”
Officers reported that three victims ran for safety inside the restaurant, and Studdard said employees were actively trying to keep people out.
“All I saw was people running,” Studdard said. “I was running, running, running, running. It was just screaming and screaming. It was about people saying, 'Did someone just get shot, or did you get shot too, or are you okay?' That's what I said. That was the scene.
“The sky was lit up red and blue, there were so many police cars, so many ambulances. We used to have quite a few people downtown, but now they're on boats. I'm just coming over for a ride.”
As IMPD struggled to aid the injured and clear sidewalks, two 17-year-old boys were arrested for resisting law enforcement and punching an officer in the face.
“Resistance members have just assaulted a police officer,'' a report came over the police radio. “We need a wagon ASAP. He's still belligerent.”
Studdard said she eventually fled through the restaurant's side entrance, leaving behind her shoes and coat.
“It was chaos,” Studdard said. “It was terrorism. It was a harrowing experience that will probably haunt me for a while. It was scary. No one should have to go through something like that. I was in a restaurant, pounding on the floor, trying to make it in time. You don't have to worry about it.”
Twenty-five IMPD officers had been on patrol since the evening before the shooting, quelling conflicts, investigating vandalism and searching for weapons.
Two weeks ago, a man was murdered and several other people were shot at a bar in Broad Ripple.
Last weekend, a man was killed in a police shooting outside a bar on East Washington Street, and several people were injured when officers fired into a crowd in the parking lot, authorities said.
Mayor Joe Hogsett released the following statement Sunday afternoon:
This Easter Sunday, my heart aches for the young people whose lives were affected by the events of last night.
To be clear, a 12-year-old child should not be allowed to stay out late at night anywhere without parental or adult supervision. Importantly, there is no reason why young people at any age should own guns.
But no law enforcement or community program can keep guns out of the hands of every young person in our city. Solutions require all of us to address the easy access and use of firearms by young people to resolve conflicts.
The City of Indianapolis will continue to advance its $150 million violence reduction strategy, including hiring a chief youth-only violence prevention officer and working to prosecute those who provide firearms to minors. ing.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett
