PUBLIC SAFETY

Weekend violence brings Marion County's homicide count to highest in seven years

By Jill Disis
jill.disis@Indystar.com

A series of fatal shootings in Indianapolis this weekend propelled Marion County to its highest number of criminal homicides in seven years.

The weekend's first slaying came Friday night, when 23-year-old Michael Boyd was shot during a disturbance outside a Shell gas station near East 46th Street and North Arlington Avenue.

On Saturday, Anthoney Warren, 15, was found dead under a pine tree at a Northwestside apartment complex near West 56th Street and Georgetown Road. Police say he had been shot multiple times.

The violence continued Sunday with a double shooting in the 9800 block of Lake Terrace North Drive on the Far Eastside that left one man dead with a gunshot wound to the head. A second man was taken to Methodist Hospital at IU Health in serious condition. Police have not yet released identities.

No suspects have been arrested in any of the incidents.

The violent weekend brought the city's number of criminal homicides for the year, so far, to 116 — the highest since 2006, when 140 such homicides were recorded.

The year's total also snapped a four-year streak in which Indianapolis had fewer than 100 homicides.

"It's certainly alarming to us," said Public Safety Director Troy Riggs.

Criminal homicides are defined by police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation as killings that were not in self-defense, police shootings or accidents that were not prosecuted.

Last year, there were 97 criminal homicides and there were 96 in 2011. The last time the city recorded more than 100 was in 2008, when there were 114 criminal homicides.

Also troubling, Riggs said, is the level of violence among young people.

Warren was one of about a dozen teens killed in Indianapolis this year in homicide-related violence. Most died by gunshots.

Warren's mother, Nikkita Milledge, 35, told The Star Sunday that despite her best efforts to keep her son away from trouble, he sometimes got mixed up in the wrong crowds.

"We did everything that was positive. I tried everything to keep him busy," Milledge said, adding that she helped Warren sign up for sports through Pike Township. "I wanted better for him."

Milledge said she hopes someone who knows what happened to her son steps forward.

"Someone knows who killed Anthoney Warren and they just need to tell who killed him," she said. "My son did not deserve to be gunned down."

Riggs said despite the yearly totals, the pace of killings has decreased from the first four months, when criminal homicides had spiked 58 percent compared to the previous year.

He said that's when he and Chief Rick Hite asked for community engagement to help tamp down violence by explaining to the public that police cannot do it themselves.

"And the number of non-fatal shootings and overall shootings has decreased," Riggs said. "It is blunt to say it but sometimes the homicide rate depends on where the bullet lands."

He said during the past four months criminal homicides had decreased 21 percent compared to the same time last year.

"This is difficult police work," Riggs said. "If we're going to be successful long term, it really has to be a community effort — everything from education to helping people."

Star reporter John Tuohy contributed to this story.

Call Star reporter Jill Disis at (317) 444-6137. Follow her on Twitter: @jdisis

Criminal homicides in Marion County since 2006

January-Dec. 15, 2013: 116

2012: 97

2011: 96

2010: 92

2009: 99

2008: 114

2007: 114

2006: 140