IMPD will not go ahead with gunshot detection system
PUBLIC SAFETY

Indianapolis on pace to eclipse last year's 7-year-high homicide total

Jill Disis
jill.disis@indystar.com

A recent spurt of killings has put Indianapolis on pace to eclipse its 2013 homicide total, the city's highest in seven years.

Through Tuesday, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department recorded 39 homicides, compared with 30 during the same period last year.

The total includes the nearly half-dozen slayings, many still unsolved, that have blighted the city in recent days:

> A 36-year-old Noblesville man was fatally shot Sunday afternoon at an Eastside clothing store, police said, as two Indianapolis teens tried to rob the Body Gear at 2816 E. 38th St. Deaundre Graves, 18, and Jeffery Rhodes, 17, have been formally charged as adults with several felonies.

The scene of a triple homicide at 9501 Shoreland Ct. on Sunday night.

> A triple homicide occurred late Sunday at a Far-Eastside apartment complex, claiming the lives of two men and a woman, all in their 50s. Police think the killings in the 9500 block of Shoreland Court were drug related, but they have not arrested anyone.

> A 24-year-old computer programmer was gunned down for no apparent reason about 6 a.m. Tuesday in the parking lot of Tron Tire Shop in the 3500 block of West 16th Street. Police said the man typically walked down the street every evening. No suspects have been found, though video footage from the tire store captures the attackers fleeing the scene.

Neighbors watch police and firefighters work where a body was found at 24 S. Wallace Lane.

Wednesday morning, another man, still unidentified, was found dead behind an Eastside apartment complex in the first block of South Wallace Lane. Whether his death was a homicide was still uncertain, but area residents reported hearing gunshots a few hours before the body was found, and witnesses described seeing bloody wounds on the body.

Although IMPD and other public safety officials note that aggravated assaults in the city are down about 10 percent this year from the same period last year, they realize the homicides, including the latest flurry, further underscore the need for an increased police presence and more community involvement.

"Every human life is valuable. We cannot be apathetic," Public Safety Director Troy Riggs said. "Even though some of our crime numbers are down — which is a good sign, hopefully — homicide is a lack of respect for human life.

"To take human life, that is a scary situation, and we need to make sure we are doing everything we can as a department and a community."

In recent weeks, Riggs, other city officials and community leaders have touted several new programs they hope will curb city violence.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard on Wednesday discusses a new initiative to stem violence in the city.

Last month, Mayor Greg Ballard outlined a new campaign called "Your Life Matters," which he characterized as a community-led initiative that officials hope will motivate at-risk youths to get off the streets and find jobs or volunteer programs. The campaign is specifically geared toward black-on-black violence. Of 33 homicides committed through Saturday, 10 were black-on-black crimes, police say.

The new campaign wasn't the city's only action. IMPD recently announced it was expanding a pilot program aimed at helping ex-offenders leaving prison get better acclimated in their neighborhoods.

Riggs added to the initiatives shortly after, introducing a roundtable-like series called "Community Conversations," which he said had been in the works for months. The series began with a panel of city leaders at the Indianapolis Central Library on March 20, though Riggs said he hoped more informal sessions involving community members and district officers could begin soon. Wendesday, he said about 10 such meetings have been planned.

A staffing move by IMPD on Monday will put an additional 27 officers on patrol in the city's criminal "hot spot" areas, police say. The officers, who previously were assigned to work with the Indianapolis Department of Homeland Security, will be available through the spring and summer for assignment at IMPD's discretion.

Despite the recent efforts, some residents say they still feel unsafe. Until the seemingly random death of 24-year-old Nathan Trapuzzano, who was gunned down in the Tron Tire Shop parking lot Tuesday, nearby resident Sarah Glass said she rarely saw squad cars patrolling her streets.

"We're very unhappy with the way things have been going," said Glass, 75, who lives about five blocks from where Trapuzzano was killed. "I don't feel safe, even out in the yard. I really don't."

Star reporter Bill McCleery contributed to this story. Call Star reporter Jill Disis at (317) 444-6137. Follow her on Twitter: @jdisis.