INDIANAPOLIS — A historically violent weekend that saw more than a dozen shootings resulted in eight homicides across Indianapolis.
The motives for many of the weekend killings remain under investigation, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. However, city leaders insist they’re doing everything they can to try and reduce violence across Indy.
The deadly violence actually began Thursday when an argument at a northeast side apartment complex ended in a shooting.
The family of 30-year-old Terrence Mclean said he died at the hospital a day later on Friday.
His death marked the first of eight homicide victims who lost their lives between Friday and Sunday, along with a ninth person who took his own life as part of a double murder-suicide.
“It’s mind boggling how we got here this past weekend. Our thoughts and prayers are with those families,” said IMPD Chief Randal Taylor. “For the public, I would hope they would continue to work with us and let us know what they’re seeing.”
Searching as far back as 2014, our records show four previous weekends where the city saw seven homicides, but there were never eight victims who died in the same weekend. As of 4 p.m. Monday, Chief Taylor confirmed no arrests have been made from any of the weekend’s killings.
“We’re committed to finding the trigger pullers and holding people accountable, but I’d hope people make better decisions before we go through that,” said Taylor.
Those with the city said it is important to not lose hope.
“My message is always don’t give up,” said the city’s Deputy Director of Violence Reduction Tony Lopez.
“This does not dampen our efforts. We’re not going to sit still in silence,” said Lauren Rodriguez with the Office of Public Health and Safety. “We’re still interrupting violent crimes. We’re still interrupting conflicts. We’re still finding gaps in the community that we can fill in.”
Both Rodriguez and Lopez insist the city remains committed to employing 50 peacemakers this year, with 40 already hired. Their goal is to interrupt potential acts of violence every day.
“It’s still working. It is still working. I want to emphasize that,” Rodriguez said. “We just can’t touch everyone every single day.”
“Being able to get out in the community, I feel, is more successful this year and getting the help people need,” said Lopez.
Taylor reiterated this statement.
“I think we’re on the right path, but those things don’t change as quickly as we’d like,” added Taylor. “This weekend is unfortunately an example of that. We are hoping people make better decisions.”
For the entire year, there have been fewer killings this year compared to last year, with 68 cases compared to 79. Yet, this year’s number is still higher than any other recent year aside from 2021.
