x
Breaking News
More () »

IMPD, Indy Parks looking for answers after recent shootings

IMPD has offered off-duty police officers overtime to help the current 11 park deputies patrol the city's parks.

INDIANAPOLIS — When it comes to monitoring the city's more than 200 parks, Indy Parks said it has some cameras at some of its locations across the city, but not all of them.

In May, IMPD put up a mobile trailer camera to monitor the activity in Martin Luther King Junior Park in the Kennedy King neighborhood after there was a shootout on the basketball court. 

Now, Indy Parks is revisiting the number of cameras it has after another shooting at Red Maple Park on the city's southeast side this past weekend.

"One, two and three. It went through the closet," said Cole Lake, counting the number of bullet holes in his mom's home.

The house was caught in crossfire Saturday. Witnesses say someone drove through the neighborhood and started shooting toward Red Maple Park while a graduation party was going on in the community center across the street.

People went running for cover, leaving the park and taking shelter in the community center.

Police said two boys, a 12- and 13-year-old, were shot; one of them was critically injured.

"There's a lot of people that don't live here that come through here and decide to do the worst," Lake said.

Red Maple Park isn't the only park where gunfire and shootings have caused concern this summer.  

In the wake of the recent violence, IMPD has offered off-duty police officers overtime to help the city's current 11 park deputies patrol parks, like Riverside Park, where a teenager was shot in May.  

Two weeks earlier, at Bertha Ross Park, a 22-year-old was also shot.

Indy Parks describes its camera system at its local parks as piecemeal, meaning that many of those cameras were installed at different times and have different systems. 

Some are not even working.

A spokesperson for Indy Parks issued a statement about this latest shooting, which said, in part:

"Parks should be a safe place for all Indianapolis residents to play in and enjoy. We are currently exploring options regarding technology, including mobile trailer cameras and permanent installations at some parks locations."

Lake thinks the state's permitless carry law is part of the problem and offered a solution.

"They need to get a law back on guns because everybody shouldn't be able to have a gun because they're not using them in the right way at all," Lake said.

When it comes to this latest shooting at Red Maple Park, IMPD said they still don't know who is responsible and why it happened.  

Before You Leave, Check This Out