INDIANAPOLIS — Crime in Indianapolis continues.
"They're often 16, 17 years old and they're buying handguns," said Ryan Mears, Marion County prosecutor. "Unfortunately, that's how they are resolving a lot of conflict is through violence."
From shooting deaths to stabbings and murder during a robbery, Mears announced charges against seven people in five different spring homicides.
The cases were from March and April.
"As crime picks up so do the tips," said Daniel Rosenburg, director and coordinator of Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana.
Rosenburg said the community has stepped up to help law enforcement.
The nonprofit tip line received nearly 600 calls in April and 1,000 follow-up calls. It's unclear at this time if any of those tips led to the recent arrests.
"The numbers are very steady. People have been concerned about what's going on in their city for a while," Rosenburg said.
He also said numbers could be higher. Rosenburg wants the public to know how Crime Stoppers operates.
"We're basically giving law enforcement a source of information that they have to go out and verify. They can't just use it to go make arrests and get search warrants. The courts want them to be able to verify this is true and accurate information," Rosenburg said.
Rosenburg said tips are higher than they were five years or even a decade ago.
"People use it as a way of communicating when they feel unsafe, and that's the kind of tool we want to be for communities," Rosenburg said.