INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Two people died in a pair of shootings on the northeast side of Indianapolis Monday night.
Officers were called to the first scene in the 3800 block of N. Emerson Ave. at about 9:50 p.m. Monday. Police found a man who’d been shot at a duplex. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Several other people were at the duplex at the time of the shooting, and police took them in for questioning.
“To kill somebody over a disagreement, you can’t take that back and that’s horrible,” said Dwayne Tyler.
Tyler has known the victim on Emerson, identified as 30-year-old Samuel Ghebremichael, for years. Samuel’s father is a pastor at a local church and Dwayne says his friend lived an active lifestyle.
“He lived his life, from skydiving to jet skiing, he was a wild little dude but he had a good heart,” said Tyler.
According to police reports officers did recover marijuana and heroin from the scene, but the official motive for the killing remains unclear.
“A lot of these killings is about nothing. When it boils down to it, it’s about nothing. It’s not worth someone losing their life whatever it was,” said Tyler.
Less than 90 minutes after that shooting, police were called to 42nd and Mitthoeffer after someone shot and killed 19-year-old Andre Simms. Extra officers were needed to protect that scene from unruly friends and family members who police said refused to help their investigation.
“Unfortunately not many people are being cooperative with the police,” said IMPD Capt. Harold Turner.
“A lot of times people know what’s going on, but they feel like if I step up and say something then I’m the next victim,” said Tyler.
Dwayne doesn’t condone the code of silence, but he understands why some people are reluctant to help police. At the same time, he misses his friend and wishes people would put more value on human life.
“It’s easy to pull the trigger and go on with your life, but you can’t take it back and the result is a lot of pain,” said Tyler.
Investigators don’t believe either shooting was random and say both victims appear to have been targeted.
Two Indy men are murdered just 90 minutes apart Monday night.
One of the victims is 30yo Samuel Ghebremichael.
Other victim was just 19yo. pic.twitter.com/dlCmZcohor— Jesse Wells (@JesseWellsNews) August 22, 2017
Police said there was no reason to believe the two fatal shootings were linked. Anyone with information should call the IMPD Homicide Office at 317.327.3380 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317.262.8477 (TIPS).
