INDIANAPOLIS — The name of an Indianapolis man killed at a gas station on the far east side has been released.
On Thursday afternoon, 48-year-old Robert Lee Jones died after getting into a dispute with another person outside a Speedway at 10th and Mitthoefer.
Police are still investigating a motive for the deadly shooting at the Speedway.
Unfortunately, violence at gas stations has become all too common. In fact, the death Thursday marks at least the 8th homicide at a gas station around Indianapolis this year.
At least one community leader wishes more was being done to prevent violence at gas stations.
“It’s not just frustrating, it’s very very troubling,” said Reverend James Jackson.
Reverend Jackson doesn’t know the victim of Thursday’s violence, but just a few weeks ago in early August, a 46-year-old man was shot and killed at a Citgo on German Church. That scene is less than a half mile from Jackson’s church.
A 26-year-old was also killed at a Marathon on Thompson Road in January.
A 23-year-old was shot to death at a gas station on East Washington Street in April.
More troubling of all, four people were killed in less than four months at a Shell station known as the Emerson Food Mart at 34th and Emerson.
“There’s a lot of illegal activity that takes place at some of these gas stations,” said Jackson. “So it’s a big, big problem. Generally, there’s no security.”
For their part, police say the shooting at the Speedway did not involve employees and so far no arrests have been made.
They also pointed out Thursday that people’s inability to solve conflicts peacefully contributes to violence more than location.
“For whatever reason we’ve had a problem where again folks do not understand conflict resolution. We’ve talked about this over and over and over again,” said IMPD officer William Young.
Still, reverend Jackson wishes many gas station owners would do their part to prevent shootings by increasing security and lighting on their properties.
“They draw a lot of illegal activity. A lot of people involved in lawless behavior show up at these gas stations,” said Jackson. “I don’t think the owners of these gas stations in a lot of these areas do enough to prevent these things from happening.”
Aside from the homicide on Thursday, police reports did not show a recent history of violence or shootings at the Speedway gas station.
Anyone with information on the case can still contact either IMPD’s homicide office or Crime Stoppers at (317) 262-TIPS.
Of course, violence isn’t unique to Indianapolis. Fishers police investigated a rare homicide in their city this year which also took place at a gas station.
Last month, In response to violence at gas stations in Hammond, Indiana, a town council in the northwest Indiana city passed an ordinance requiring all gas stations to close from midnight to 5 in the morning.
