The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said that seven minors between the ages of 12 and 17 were injured in a shooting outside a shopping mall in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday night. NBC News reports that Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officers were on patrol when they heard gunshots just after 11:30 p.m. and arrived on a block outside the Circle Centre Mall. According to police, they arrived to find “a large group of juveniles” at the scene, including six who had gunshot wounds.
A police spokesperson said: “Officers rendered aid to the victims. Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services (IEMS) arrived and transported all six juveniles to area hospitals.” A seventh victim with a gunshot wound arrived separately at a hospital, also under the age of 18. One victim is in critical condition and the other six are stable.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Deputy Chief Tanya Terry told reporters at a news briefing early Sunday that all the victims were now in stable condition, adding that investigators believe more than one gun was used in the shooting. Terry said: “Once again, we have a situation in which young people are resolving conflict with firearms, and it has to stop,” adding that officers have noticed a pattern of young people leaving the mall after it closes at 7 p.m. and circulating in the nearby downtown area for hours. She noted that if parents don’t know where their 12-year-old is at 11:30 p.m. before Easter, that should “be a priority .. I think everybody sees the messages in the evening at 10 o’clock, ‘Parents, do you know where your children are?’ And we would ask for our parents to get involved in what their children are out doing, especially at these hours of the evening.”
Police have not made an arrest in the case and have not provided information about a potential suspect. Detectives with the department have begun an aggravated assault investigation. Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to contact Detective Albert Teaters at the IMPD Homicide Office at 317 327 3475 or e-mail him at Albert.Teaters@indy.gov, or they can anonymously call Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317 262 477 or TIPS.
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