NYTimes on it: juvenile charged

5 Killed in Indianapolis Shooting That Mayor Condemns as ‘Mass Murder’

A juvenile, who was not identified, was charged in the shooting, whose victims were targeted. A pregnant woman was among the dead, the authorities said.

By Neil Vigdor Jan. 24, 2021

A youth was arrested on Monday in the fatal shooting of five people who were found in a home in Indianapolis on Sunday, a crime that the city’s mayor denounced as an evil act of “mass murder” that amplified a recent spate of gun violence there.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said the name and age of the suspect was not being released because the person is a juvenile.

Detectives do not believe any others were involved in the shooting, the department said.

The authorities said on Sunday that the victims were targeted.

One of the victims was a pregnant woman, according to the authorities, who said that efforts to save the fetus were unsuccessful.

The bloodshed came just days after the mayor and police officials discussed plans to reduce violent crimes in Indianapolis, where local news media reported that there were 245 homicides in 2020 — a record, and a 40 percent increase from 2019.

Mayor Joe Hogsett condemned the violence at a news conference on Sunday afternoon, during which the city’s police chief said that the attack was the worst mass casualty shooting in more than a decade in Indianapolis.

“What happened this morning was a mass murder,” Mr. Hogsett said, “the choice of an individual or individuals to bring — and I do not use these words lightly — terror to our community.”

The victims were Kezzie Childs, 42; Raymond Childs Jr., 42; Elijah Childs, 18; Rita Childs, 13; Kiara Hawkins, 19, and her male fetus, the Marion County Coroner’s Office said.

A sixth victim, described as a male juvenile, was hospitalized with gunshot wounds after he was found on a nearby block before the other victims were discovered, the police said. The authorities said he was expected to survive

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BREAKING: Latest Acts of Violence bring INDY to at least 83 people shot, 17 people stabbed with 20 Homicides in the first 24 days of 2021 | That’s at least 100 people shot or stabbed averaging 4+ incidents per day (Follows 245 Homicides last year) #Tragic #Reality #CityInCrisis pic.twitter.com/Vj3HeuQYEZ

— Rick Snyder (@RickFOP86) January 24, 2021

Chief Taylor noted that the attack was one of several shootings that took place across the city on the same night.

“I think it’s concerning that we have to have this many detectives assigned to homicide in the first place,” he said.

Rick Snyder, president of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police, criticized the city’s response to the recent violence in a series of Twitter posts on Sunday.

“Our neighborhoods throughout the City are suffering repeated trauma as the result of surging violence,” Mr. Snyder said.

Mr. Hogsett attributed the surge in violent crimes in Indianapolis and across the nation partly to the “economic and personal anxiety faced by millions of Americans due to a global pandemic.”

“But that is not what happened today,” he said. “This is a crisis of morality, a crisis of conscience. This morning, the city of Indianapolis was targeted with an act of depravity that has become all too common across the country and will never cease to shock the conscience.”

'The city is sick': Another mass domestic killing rocks Indianapolis as 4 are killed

Justin L. Mack Indianapolis Star, March 15, with video & photos

While talking with others outside a Marathon gas station at the end of North Randolph Street Sunday morning, Omar Villarreal ranted in the wake of Indianapolis' latest mass killing. Between puffs of his cigarette, he spoke of the wave of violence that consumed the city last year and into this year as if it were a virus with no known cure.

At the other end of North Randolph Street, police tape and crime scene vehicles surrounded a light gray home where gunshots rang out and altered the lives of countless people just hours before.

Three adults and one child were killed there Saturday night. A 6-month-old taken from the scene was found safe, and a 25-year-old man wanted in connection with the killings was found Sunday afternoon in the attic of an east-side home.

Villarreal said the shooting and the subsequent manhunt is the latest symptom of the city's affliction.

"It's like the city is sick," he said as two men he just met nodded in agreement. "We can all feel it. And it don't matter where you live. East side, north side, south side ... it's a (expletive) cancer. I'm praying for everyone."

Villarreal hopes more people learn about and always remember what happened on Randolph Street the night before.

"We can't just act like this is another day," he said. "Too many days like this."

Quadruple homicide in Indianapolis

According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the mass shooting happened shortly before 8:30 p.m. Saturday inside a multi-unit residence in the 330 block of North Randolph Street.

Police were first called to the area in response to a woman shot in the upper back in the 250 block of North Randolph Street. That woman then directed investigators to the larger crime scene where police found four people dead, including a child [....]