A new killing amid the calls for peace

They were about to drive six crosses into the ground in remembrance of the city's most recent homicide victims when someone brought news that seemed so unexpected on a sun-splashed afternoon — there had been yet another homicide. A seventh cross would be needed.

Without skipping a beat, those gathered on the Westside to mark the end of a month-long vigil against violence pulled out another small white cross and drove it into ground. All told, 18 crosses have been planted in the last month.

In a year still a long way from done, more than 100 people have died violently in Indianapolis. The latest came Sunday when a teenager was shot dead in a vacant lot next to a convenience store on the city's Eastside. As his shirtless body lay in the brilliant afternoon sun, police combed a large area looking for clues and witnesses to the shooting, which occurred around 2 p.m. A gun was found near the body, whether it was the suspect's or the victim's wasn't clear

Police identified the victim early Monday as 17-year-old Steven Kendall of Indianapolis. Suspects in the shooting have not been identified, said Sgt. Kendale Adams of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. But police will be reviewing security footage from the convenience store, which is located on the southeast corner of New York and Rural streets. Both the suspect and the victim were believed to have gone inside the store and likely knew each other, Adams said.

In addition to the police activity around the store, crime scene tape stretched more than 100 yards along Rural Street, where the suspects may have fled. Yellow evidence markers were placed near dried blood droplets along sidewalks.

Some police officers at the scene were bound for the anti-violence event when the call came for yet another homicide. Some of the clergy who regularly visit homicide stops left the anti-violence event to go to the crime scene.

Both the Eastside shooting and the anti-violence event on the Westside took place in Department of Public Safety-designated hot zones — the most violent areas in the city, places that have been a focus of police and city resources.

The anti-violence event was inspired by the Rev. John Girton, who has spent the last month living in a tent near the intersection of 30th and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. streets — one of the hot zones — to call attention to the violence. He called the experience life changing, and said he is convinced more than ever that, as much as drugs and illegal guns, violence is a byproduct of hopelessness.

Girton, his church members and other people from the faith community who huddled around his tent in the last month heard many stories of hopelessness from the 1,200 visitors who visited. "A lot of people have given up," Girton said.

One of his co-pastors at Christ Missionary Baptist Church, Melody Boone, said visitors to the tent included people who were contemplating suicide, but who were dissuaded by the love they were shown. She said one man came by who admitted he was on the hunt for a man who had shown him disrespect. "He was literally on the way to this alley to kill someone," Boone said.

Instead, the man said the church's presence on the street pricked his conscience and he didn't go looking for blood.

Girton said he slept at the campsite, near the intersection of E. 30th and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. streets, for all but about three nights the entire month, leaving his tent then only because of high winds. Despite being in a violent neighborhood, he said he experienced no problems and the area was amazingly quiet. The people who came to the site weren't looking for trouble, he said, but someone to listen to them.

"A lot of these kids especially are just stuck here and they're branded," Girton said. "Just because you live in a neighborhood where there's lots of violence doesn't mean you are violent."

Among the VIPs who dropped by the tent, he said, were Mayor Greg Ballard and both candidates seeking to replace him. More important than the movers and shakers, he said, are the smaller voices.

"The city has to think about ways to listen to everybody, and not just the people who have money or people who have certain last names," Girton said. "They have creativity. They have innovation. They have things, but oftentimes they don't feel like their voices are being heard."

Robert King covers crime prevention and public safety. Call him at (317) 444-6089. Follow him on Twitter at @RbtKing.