INDIANAPOLIS — Two were people shot and killed Monday morning outside an apartment complex near 38th and Meridian. It's one of many murder scenes IMPD has had to investigate this month.
"October has been a difficult month for our city," Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said on Monday. "Any homicide is a tragedy to the family, to the neighborhood and to the community. That's why we're doing everything reasonably accessible to us to prevent gun violence from taking anyone's life and prevent gun violence altogether."
This month in Indianapolis, homicides are keeping pace with the number of days in October. Hogsett told reporters, despite what's happened this month, murders are down compared to last year.
"Today, intentional homicides in the city of Indianapolis have gone down 17 to 18 percent year over year," said Hogsett. "I think that is indicative of the fact that the investments we are making are having a very, very good, positive effect."
Community activist Antonio Patton says it's tough to be enthusiastic when murders are piling up.
"As much as we're having a reduction, and we want to continue to have the reduction and we're excited about that, it's hard to celebrate when one body falls with gun violence, two bodies fall," said Patton.
He said finding a solution is a citywide responsibility.
"It takes our first responders, it takes us," said Patton. "It's just so beyond our mayor and the government. This is a community issue."
Rev. Charles Harrison agrees, saying homicides may be down compared to last year’s record number, but it doesn’t feel like it.
“The city is on this pace now that really concerns me,” Harrison said. “I know we are down from last year’s numbers, but it doesn’t feel that way out here. For those of us who are out here in the streets, people are as afraid concerning the violence as they were last year and the year before. We are probably going to be 200-plus homicides again for the third year in a row.”
This most recent double homicide happened in the Mapleton Fall Creek neighborhood, an area Harrison calls home. He said the city needs to hold people more accountable and the community needs to start talking.
“We got to get our arms around this and bring those numbers way, way down,” he said.