INDIANAPOLIS — A judge ruled former Purdue basketball player A.J. Hammons can still have parties at his Indianapolis mansion, but with several restrictions.
Neighbors had blamed Hammons for hosting or allowing parties at his home where there was excessive noise and even shots fired at times. Some of the neighbors claim gunshots fired by people who attended Hammons' parties even hit their homes.
On July 21, a judge hearing the claims ordered that Hammons can still host or allow parties at his home, but he must adhere to several restrictions:
- Hammons will provide and pay for security for a paid ticketed event of 25 or more people until the party ends.
- Hammons must take reasonable steps for any gathering at his home to prevent his guests from trespassing into the neighboring Harrison Run neighborhood.
- All persons in attendance at a party at his home will need to submit to a search for weapons when entering or leaving the property.
- Hammons will need to advise guests verbally or with signs that any discharge of weapon will result in an immediate report to local authorities and that they will be subject to possible arrest and prosecution.
- Hammons cannot have the broadcast of unreasonably loud noise from his home at any time.
- Hammons' guests cannot park their cars anywhere in the Harrison Run neighborhood or impeding traffic, pedestrian crosswalks, alleyways, yards, or driveways on Fall Creek Road.
- All large parties at Hammons property must end by 1 a.m. with all guests leaving the property by that time.
Neighboring residents had claimed in a lawsuit that they were "forced to live in fear each day that themselves, their families and their neighbors' lives are in danger."
In the lawsuit, neighbors said Hammons or someone with whom he is working, have held “extremely large” parties since 2019. The lawsuit claimed, “These parties pose a serious risk to the very lives of the individual Plaintiffs and their families, as numerous parties at the Hammons Property have resulted in attendees discharging firearms on and around the Hammons Property and into the Harrison Run neighborhood.”
The suit also said the gatherings are “out of control with noise” that can be heard by people who live in the Harrison Run neighborhood, across Fall Creek Road and more than 75 feet away.
The lawsuit claimed Hammons’ use of his residence is a nuisance and asked for a permanent injunction against large parties. The judge denied the injunction for parties, but permitted it for restrictions on that party.
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The complaint against Hammons includes several pictures that the lawsuit says show damage from bullets. One picture shows a shattered shower door that the owner says was broken by a bullet last weekend.
Several other photos show bullet holes that the suit claims came from bullets fired in the early morning hours of May 21. Additional images show windows that the plaintiffs say were also broken by gunfire.
Two couples submitted detailed reports about their experiences from that night. Both recounted how they moved their children to back bedrooms in an effort to protect them from gunfire.
One mother reported she was afraid her young son might have been shot in the stomach at one point.
A father recalled pulling his son out of bed as he heard gunshots near the house.
“I did not know whether he had been shot as I grabbed him out of bed. I have never been more scared in my life, and I will never, ever forget that feeling,” he said.
The couple recounted how they discovered a bullet traveled through an exterior wall and an interior door before it hit a corner, went through a stairwell and traveled through another wall, a bucket of cleaning supplies and another interior door before it hit a chair. The father said he ultimately found the bullet resting on the bedframe where his wife and their two young children were sheltering.
They later found where at least four other bullets hit their home.
Neighbors also recounted in the filing how partygoers ran through their yards to reach cars that were parked throughout the Harrison Run neighborhood.