INDIANAPOLIS — For the third time this year, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department homicide detectives have been called to investigate a fatal shooting at Amber Woods Apartments on the Indy’s east side.
”IMPD East District officers were dispatched to the 10000 block of John Marshall Drive on a report of a person shot,” said IMPD Public Information Officer Samone Burris. “When officers arrived, they located an adult male with injuries consistent with a gunshot wound.”
Witnesses told police that a 32-year-old man was arguing with a woman before he was shot and found fatally wounded.
The victim was identified as 32-year-old Stephen Rozelle Hale.
”Preliminary investigation leads our detectives to believe that the entire incident occurred outside, it did not occur inside any residence in the area,” Burris said. “The male was located in the parking lot area of this location. When officers arrived, there was a large crowd on scene.”
There were an estimated 75 people milling about when police arrived.
“We don’t know why there was a large crowd, but we know when we showed up, we had to get things under control and maintained,” Burris said.
The killing at Amber Woods marked the fifth time in 32 hours IMPD detectives were called to investigate east-side shootings in the same general area.
At 3 a.m. Saturday, and again 24 hours later, someone fired shots into a home in the 6200 block of Nimitz Drive.
Sunday morning at 4:30, a shot was fired into a home in the 4100 block of North Catherwood Avenue.
Less than an hour later, a person was shot in the 10000 block of Hawkins Court, just a couple miles due south of the John Marshall Drive shooting that happened six hours later.
Amber Woods was also the site of a peace walk with Mayor Joe Hogsett and Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears in August.
”It can be frustrating to have to respond to crisis situations that result in the loss of a life,” Burris said. “It is very devastating to our community and our officers. When a bullet leaves the chamber of a gun, you don’t get to control where it goes. You don’t get to control where it lands or who it strikes.”
