TWO people have died and several are injured after a mass shooting in Indianapolis as Fourth of July violence spilled into the weekend.
The horror shooting broke out in the early hours of Saturday morning where “hundreds” of juveniles had gathered near South Illinois Street and West Washington Street.
Cops had already been dealing with an incident in the area when they were called to another skirmish and heard gunfire as they approached the scene just before 1:30 am.
When they arrived, six people had been shot and one was pronounced dead at the scene.
Cops later confirmed that the fatality was a 16-year-old boy.
The six injured victims were transported to local hospitals where one later died – later confirmed to be a 15-year-old male.
A seventh shooting victim ended up walking to an area hospital and is said to be in a stable condition.
The identities of those who died and were injured have not been released.
But police said in a press conference that of those shot, one was 16, one was 17, two were 19 and one was 21.
A number of firearms were taken from the scene by cops and several people were detained for questioning as an investigation continues.
It is not known if the weapons seized and those being questioned were involved in the shooting.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Chris Bailey issued a stern warning to parents at a press conference from the scene on Friday night as he gave initial details about the night of violence.
As thousands of people gathered to celebrate Fourth of July by watching the organized fireworks displays, others including “hundreds of kids” gathered to cause trouble, Bailey said.
“This kind of violence, whether downtown or in any of our neighborhoods is completely unacceptable and unnecessary,” he told reporters.
“Thousands of people came downtown tonight, enjoyed the fireworks and went home.
“Thousands more chose to come down here and all night cause trouble.”
‘WAKE UP’
All night long, he spoke of how he and his officers “dealt with the disturbances, dealt with the utter disrespect for our city, for our laws, and for law enforcement.”
“Hundreds of unsupervised kids down here. I don’t know how many times I have to say it – We are not your children’s keepers. You are.
“Parents and guardians have got to step up.
“A kid is dead tonight. And we just don’t know the age of the young man down the street still here. Dead. He looks young. It’s unacceptable.”
Chief Bailey spoke of how around 20 arrests were made on Friday night alone and with guns seized from children before the mass shooting broke out.
One of the kids he referred to had an assault rifle in the front of his pants as the police chief called for the community to “wake up” to the state of its youth.
“We’re going to find out who did it and we are going to hold them accountable and if I can convince the prosecutor to hold parents accountable I’m going to do that too,” he vowed.
“I’m going to seek some kind of accountability to parents. There has to be more than just ‘what are the police doing?'”
“They ran toward the gunfire as they were working another fight,” he added of the officers who responded to the shooting.
The IMPD is set to release more information as the investigation continues.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14635126/indianapolis-mass-shooting-fourth-july-weekend-violence/
