Gunfire, death rattles Broad Ripple once again

The unwelcome sound of gunfire and a death has Broad Ripple residents on watch again, but community leaders say people shouldn't be overly concerned about safety in the neighborhood.

A four-month lull in violent crime ended Tuesday morning with the death of a man two blocks away from Broad Ripple High School. Brandon Hale, 31, Indianapolis, was found outside the Monon Place apartment complex in the 1100 block of Chatfield Drive with "obvious signs of trauma," police said. Gunfire in the area was reported hours earlier, though the coroner's office says the cause and manner of death are pending.

In July a shooting on Broad Ripple Avenue left seven people injured.

Neighborhood residents Melissa Baumann, 46, and her son, Ryan Baumann, 20, said Tuesday that they moved to Broad Ripple in August 2013 from Plainfield.

"Moving up here, I thought it was a nice town with a lot of hipsters," Ryan Baumann said. "But then you hear about robberies and car break-ins and now a dead body not even a minute walk from my own home. That definitely made my heart stop."

The neighborhood's councilman, Will Gooden, says efforts to make Broad Ripple a safe place are ongoing.

"We have been working extremely hard," Gooden said. "There truly has been a holistic approach to the issues that aren't simple."

The summertime shooting of six Indianapolis men and a Fishers woman led to an increased police presence on Broad Ripple Avenue. For weeks police shut down Broad Ripple Avenue to motorists on Friday and Saturday nights, though such traffic has since mostly resumed.

In addition to IMPD efforts, Gooden noted the closure of two Broad Ripple bars that drew citations for code violations.

"At some point people are going to say enough is enough," Gooden said.

Members of the Broad Ripple Village Association are working to keep the area vibrant. The group also is on a mission to save the neighborhood's image, said Brooke Klejnot, the association's executive director.

"It certainly doesn't define the Broad Ripple area," Klejnot of Tuesday's police activity. "This isn't who we are."

Hale was found in the morning after officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department responded to a 6:44 a.m. call, IMPD Sgt. Kendale Adams said. Hale did not live at Monon Place.

Police received reports around 2:30 a.m. of shots fired in the area, Adams said, but did not find anything when they first responded to that call.

The gunfire reports came only hours after a shot rang out from a nearby neighborhood. A clerk at a gas station in the 4800 block of North Pennsylvania Street in the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood was shot in the ankle during a holdup, police said.

Star reporter Justin L. Mack contributed to this article. Call Star reporter Cara Anthony at (317) 444-6049. Follow her on Twitter:@CaraRAnthony.