INDIANAPOLIS — Dozens of people enjoyed a pleasant Monday in the Broad Ripple area, with only a few boarded up windows and bullet holes to remind neighbors of the violence over the weekend.
From Friday morning to Sunday night, police responded to three separate shootings. All three were just a short walk from each other.
Police reports show one man was arrested after shots were fired in the 6300 block of Guilford Avenue Friday around 3 a.m.
On Sunday just before 1 a.m., police reports show more than 50 officers responded to multiple people shooting. More than 90 shell casings were found at the scene on Guilford Avenue near 64th St. No arrests were made.
Multiple cars and buildings had bullet damage, and someone nearby got video of the shooting on a cellphone. In the video you hear several gunshots followed by four cars quickly leaving a parking lot.
The final shooting of the weekend came late Sunday night. Police reports show officers found 17 shell casings in the 1000 block of Broad Ripple Avenue. No arrests were made.
”I make sure I’m in my room by midnight,” said Jack Peterson. “I’m not out late anymore. It’s a little scary. Why bother going out, staying out late, if there’s going to be shots twice a week or whatever it is.”
Peterson lives just a few blocks from each shooting. He said he heard shots this weekend.
”There was just automatic fire it sounded like, and then the cops were driving around all over the place,” Peterson said.
Angel Santiago’s business, “The Barber Studio,” is just across the street from the Friday-morning shooting and just down the street from the 90 shell casings found Sunday morning.
”During the day I feel safe being around. It’s usually at night once the sun goes down everything changes,” Santiago said.
His business has been on Guilford for more than four years. He said he feels like crime has gone up since he first opened. He’s worried violence like this weekend will scare customers away.
”I hope they don’t stay away and they still coming, but I know some of them are getting a little scared because of what’s happening,” Santiago said.
Jordan Dillon, the executive director of the Broad Ripple Village Association, said they’re sick and tired of the violence and want help from city leaders.
”I don’t know if something needs to be done from the prosecutor’s office, from the mayor’s office, from our city legislature, from our state legislature,” Dillon said.
Dillon said they work with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and their City-County councilor on safety in and around Broad Ripple Avenue.
IMPD Asst. Chief Chris Bailey said they have a good safety plan for Broad Ripple with 13-15 officers there each weekend night and license plate readers installed in the area.
”Our cops do a very good job. There are a lot of cops concentrated in a very small area that are focused only on people coming in and out of Broad Ripple having a safe evening,” Bailey said.
He commended the officers who ran toward the dozens of shots Sunday morning and said detectives are looking over video footage of the incident. Bailey added that they are focused on some businesses in Broad Ripple, as well.
”We spend a lot of time and energy in Broad Ripple, just as we do downtown,” Bailey said. “We have some nuisance businesses, I’ll call them.”
But Dillon argues the businesses in Broad Ripple are rarely the problem in creating this violence.
”It really isn’t the bars,” she said. “Maybe there have been a couple of occasions where the bars have been at fault, fine. But the majority of the time it’s people that are just coming out here and hanging out in parking lots that are not monitored, that are not lit.”
Bailey said IMPD plans on talking to the BRVA about more public safety technology they can add to the area. Dillon said she’s not sure what more infrastructure or officers will do.
”Public safety wise, I don’t know what else we can do,” Dillon said.
Santiago and Peterson agreed. Santiago said he already sees cameras everywhere, and Peterson felt there was a strong police presence on the weekends.
“I see a bunch of them, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much,” Peterson said.
Bailey said it seems like there are two different Broad Ripples.
”At some point Broad Ripple needs to decide what they want,” Bailey said. “Two different personalities, one during the day and one at night.”
Dillon said Broad Ripple prides itself on being a lot of different things for different people, but the crime needs to stop. To do that, Dillon said they need help from the mayor’s office and prosecutor’s office.
”We’re sick and tired of being sick and tired of this, and we’re looking toward our city leaders to figure it out and help us out.”