INDIANAPOLIS — With the GMR Grand Prix in town and warmer weather, people are likely to flock to downtown Indianapolis this weekend.
For some, the issue of safety is once again top of mind after four people were shot along the canal earlier this week. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said two groups of people on different sides of the waterway got into an argument early Wednesday morning and someone pulled out a gun and started shooting.
“I was like wow that could’ve been us,” Kayla Sharpe, who lives near the area, said. “That could’ve been me and my children.”
Sharpe said she was on the canal with her two young children the night before the shooting. Now, she said it has her thinking twice about how safe the area really is.
“It’s very unnecessary to be arguing and then bring guns into an argument,” Sharpe said. “I told myself I’m not bringing my kids here at night.”
Others, like Brooklyn Hayes, who is apartment hunting in the downtown area, said the quadruple shooting is a factor in her housing decision.
“I really like to be outside and walking,” Sharpe said. “So it does make me think about where I want to live in the future.”
In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, IMPD has put up a portable camera near where the incident happened. The area already has numerous permanent cameras, but now they have an extra set of eyes.
“We got a lot of officer presence down there,” IMPD Commander Phil Burton said in an interview earlier this week, “so we just hope people that see this and will come down with their families which we encourage.”
Despite that assurance, some people who live and work in that area said they are unconvinced.
“It kind of made me sad,” Hayes said. “I’ve always viewed this area as kind of like a nice and serene and more quiet.”
IMPD said investigators are still looking for the suspects in the canal shooting. They released the surveillance image above of the group involved and are asking anyone who can identify them to give CrimeStoppers a call at 317-262-TIPS.
