Latest killing makes 2016 deadliest year in city's history

Indianapolis police are investigating after a man was shot and killed when he answered his door late Wednesday night, marking the city's 145th criminal homicide in 2016 and breaking last year's record-setting total of 144 murders.

In the most recent killing, a 48-year-old man was shot when he responded to a knock on the door at a home on the city's east side.

Indianapolis' 145th criminal homicide comes near the end of the city's first year under Mayor Joe Hogsett, who ran a campaign centered on reducing violent crime in the city. After his election, Hogsett quickly appointed Troy Riggs, who had served as Mayor Greg Ballard's Director of Public Safety, as his police chief.

Together, they pledged to increase community policing and outreach in some of the city's most criminally active neighborhoods while continuing a larger push to address the systemic issues that lead to crime.

The record-breaking killing — which makes 2016 the deadliest year in the city's history — came on the same day Riggs announced his resignation from his role as police chief, citing financial reasons.

Officials have said root causes such as poverty, substance abuse and mental illness are on the rise as Indianapolis' population grows, but they also point to a decrease in non-fatal shootings in the focus areas that are a central component of Riggs' crime-fighting plan. In those areas, the department carves out neighborhoods that experience a high-rate of violence for beat patrols and wraparound social services.

When Riggs looks at the data, he sees a pretty basic problem driving the city's homicides: Too many people are settling arguments with gunfire.

At this time last year, the city had racked up 142 criminal homicides, two shy of the 144 the city would hit by the end of 2015.

Homicides that are considered justifiable — such as fatal shootings made in self-defense and fatal shootings made by police — are not included in that number. The number also excludes any killings investigated by entities other than IMPD.

Shootings in which the victim survived, a statistic many see as more telling than the number of killings, are actually down one from the same time in 2015. There were 459 such shootings last year, compared to 458 as of Dec. 18.

Riggs said the new data-driven policing policies instituted this summer are starting to have an effect. While homicides are up across the city, the highest crime neighborhoods where police have focused their attention actually saw a 10 percent reduction in homicides and a 7 percent drop in shootings.

"The good news is the things we've started processing, they are starting to work," Riggs said. "This is a long-term process.

"It's good to see a lot of this coming to fruition, but we still have too many homicides, too many murders; we still have too many people using weapons to solve simple arguments."

The numbers tell one story. But to the families torn apart by violence, to the community leaders and volunteers who fight to prevent violence, it's the names that matter most.

Names like Cameron Baker, 25; Takara Coleman, 23; and Lisa Woods, 52 — three people found dead in July in an apartment on the northeast side. Officers found a 19-month-old girl, unharmed, in the same room as her father's body.

And Steven Hunter, 19, who was shot in the neck on the southwest side in October over a bag of marijuana, after police say another teen planned an "easy" robbery. Hunter's 1-year-old son will grow up without a father.

And Terry Williams, 19, who became the year's first victim. He was found with at least one gunshot wound on the second floor of an east-side apartment building on Jan. 4.

A neighbor, 24-year-old Deontae Davis, spoke with IndyStar that night: "It's bad when you can't even walk your own neighborhood no more."

Davis would later find a similar fate, his life washed away in August as Indy marched toward its deadliest year.

Karen Howard, who lives on the northwest side, moved to Indianapolis from a small Ohio town about three years ago. She noted that police can’t confront Indy's violence problem alone — they need help from the community.

“If someone has a hint that someone is going to hurt someone else, and they just stand by?" Howard said. "They’re as guilty as the person who pulled the trigger in my book."

To Shamar Jackson, the increasing violence is taking its toll. He's also experiencing a growing frustration with his neighbors in the area of 38th Street and Mitthoefer Road who seem content.

“I’m not saying I know what we should be doing to stop this, but whatever we’re doing isn’t working," said Jackson, 41. “It’s a lot of these young dudes out here killing each other over nothing. If I get a chance, I approach them. Talk to them. Take some kind of interest."

Star reporter Madeline Buckley contributed.

Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at (317) 444-6156. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.

Call IndyStar reporter Justin L. Mack at (317) 444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.

Call IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @vicryc.