INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis mother is sharing her story following her son’s murder during an after-hours party on the city’s near south side.
Detectives with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said they believe an argument just after midnight on Easter Sunday spilled outside from the second floor of a building on Madison Avenue and ended with a 19-year-old dead and two others wounded.
“I’m numb,” the victim’s mother, Liz Greene, said. “I feel like I didn’t get to say goodbye.”
Greene’s son, Jamear Owens, was found shot sitting in a car after stopping by the party which was being hosted by a friend.
“He may have just been hit by a stray bullet because he was in a car across the street by himself,” said Greene.
The front doors of the Pollos Los Reyes restaurant involved in the shooting are locked and a notice has been posted by the health department that the building is closed to protect public health and safety. IMPD claims the building did have a liquor license, but lacked food and entertainment permits to hold a party.
Greene said the lack of licenses is why she believes the violence was preventable. She said she hopes her son’s case serves as a lesson that can help save the lives of other kids.
“If security was there, there would not have been anyone in the parking lot shooting, but nobody was monitoring anything,” said Greene.
Greene owns an event planning business called Visions. She said she believes her son would still be alive if the party’s organizer had hired the proper security.
“The problem lies in the fact that people want to have fun, but they don’t want to pay for security,” said Greene.
Jamear’s death also marked the third time over the last three weekends that a shooting at an after-hours event resulted in a homicide in Indy. Exactly one week earlier, a half dozen people were shot and a 24-year-old man died during an after-hours birthday party on West 38th Street.
The previous weekend, a woman was killed during a shootout outside JD’s Pub on the northwest side. It is because of these shootings that Jamear’s mom said she has a message for event planners everywhere.
“Please do what you need to do to create a safe environment for adults or adolescents,” Greene said. “You’ve got people’s lives in your hands.”
As for the criminal case, IMPD said no arrests have been made despite several people being detained for questioning after the shooting.
