INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis police say they've arrested a handful of teenagers involved in criminal gang activity, including the alleged gang leader. Much of the evidence comes from social media posts by the suspects allegedly incriminating themselves.
Police say the group calls themselves the "Taliban Choppo" gang, often abbreviated "TCG" on social media posts of alleged members. The name allegedly refers to the street names of two friends of the gang members who died of overdoses this year.
Police have been gathering evidence against gang members going back to a shooting that injured a juvenile March 28 on Macarthur Lane.
"They operated since this early spring with some criminal activity all the way through to recent arrests of at least five individuals that were apprehended with alleged gang activity within that," said IMPD Ofc. Tommy Thompson. "There were firearms that had been shot off throughout the city and there were several instances that these individuals were connected to."
Court records include a timeline of the gang being responsible for at least six shots fired incidents, and two additional nonfatal shootings this year on the northwest side of Indianapolis.
On Halloween, an Arsenal Tech High School student said he had just got off the school bus and was walking home when a white sedan pulled into the Cedars Apartment Homes complex on 34th Street. The victim told police the gang leader, 18-year-old Johnny Loaisiga, shot him.
Police say surveillance video helped them track the car a house on Arbutus Drive, where Loaisiga lives. The shooting incident allegedly stemmed from a turf battle over selling marijuana vapes at Tech High School. The victim told police that Loaisiga had stolen his backpack at school about a week earlier.
Loaisiga is charged with battery by means of a deadly weapon and criminal mischief in the shooting. He is charged with theft and pointing a firearm at another for allegedly stealing the victim’s backpack on Oct. 24.
Social media posts show alleged gang members posing with guns, some with illegal machine gun conversion devices. There are also posts trying to sell guns and making threats of retaliation against other people.
"We see individuals conducting activity in these groups, and they continue to maybe take a turf kind of stance as far as parts of the city," said Thompson. "This is my area, and this is your area."
Police say the gang has also marked territory on the northwest side with graffiti on buildings and fences.
Hector Suarez and Trinidad Garcia, both 18, are charged with criminal organization activity and dealing marijuana.
Other juveniles were also arrested.