Four Shot Dead in Indianapolis Neighborhood

Updated Wednesday, 2:20 p.m.

Indianapolis police have identified the fourth victim as 18-year-old Davon Whitlock of Indianapolis.

Updated Wednesday, 10:40 a.m.

The three female victims found dead Tuesday inside a home in the 3100 block of North Harding Street have been identified.

A release from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department says the Marion County Coroner has positively identified 32-year-old Tiara Turner of Indianapolis, 41-year-old Terri Betties of Indinapolis, and 48-year-old Sherry Taylor of Indianapolis.

The fourth victim, a male, has not been positively identified.

Police were called to the home Tuesday morning with the report of a person shot. When officers arrived, they found Turner, Betties, Taylor and the unidentified male victim with gunshot wounds. All were pronounced dead at the scene.

IMPD says the shootings do not appear to be a random act.

Original Post

Three women and a man were found shot to death Tuesday in a house in a high-crime neighborhood in Indianapolis where officers found signs of forced entry, police said.

The shootings likely occurred Tuesday morning, and detectives were talking to neighbors who heard sounds earlier that might have been gunshots, Police Chief Rick Hite said. He pleaded for anyone with information on the killings to contact police.

"We don't believe this is random and we need the public's help," Hite said. "It's a tragic situation — four people were shot in the house and four people were killed."

Hite said the victims were three women and a man but provided no other details. He said police have "some ideas" on what may have sparked the killings, but none that he could share.

Office Christopher Wilburn said the four bodies were found by a homeowner who returned home shortly before 9:45 a.m. and called 911.

By late morning, detectives and forensic investigators were moving in and out of the two-story, wood frame house through an enclosed, brick front porch while people gathered outside. Among the onlookers was Charles Richardson, who said his 58-year-old sister lives at the house and had discovered the bodies.

"She came home, and she found this," he said sadly.

Richardson said his 32-year-old niece also lives there with her three children, but that the kids weren't home when the shootings happened. He said the family was nervously awaiting the authorities to provide the names of the victims.

"Until we know something, we're just going to have to hang in there," Richardson said.

His younger sister, April Richardson, said she's worried about their niece.

"I'm just praying that my niece isn't in there. I'm just praying that it's not her," she said, weeping.

Indianapolis’ Public Safety director Troy Riggs said these deaths occurred in an area challenged by high crime and other systemic issues. 

“What we’re seeing is, which is ironic, fewer shootings but more people dying per incident where people are killing witnesses now. And we’re seeing that trending because more and more of the individuals involved in crime have criminal pasts. It has jumped 22 percent from 70 percent –suspects with criminal histories up to 92 percent last year. It seems to be trending even more this year. We have to be serious about keeping violent offenders in jail for longer periods of time.”

Riggs is spearheading efforts to improve six Indianapolis high-crime neighborhoods – where roughly 4-point-7 percent of the people of the city live - but where 27 percent of the homicides - and 29 percent of the non-fatal shootings happen.

The house is in a neighborhood that police have targeted for greater law enforcement because of its high crime rate.Rigs said Tuesday's killings are a "horrible example" for Indianapolis, which is actually experiencing downward trends in homicides, shootings and general crime.

The house is in one such neighborhood, about  3 miles northwest of downtown Indianapolis. The neighborhood is dotted with a handful of well-kept homes, along with some in poor shape or in foreclosure with boarded up windows.

Neighbors said the area has been plagued in recent years by burglaries, periodic shootings and drug-related crime.

The Rev. Charles Harrison, president of the board of directors of the Ten Point Coalition, said he and other members of the Indianapolis-based, anti-crime group met with Hite and other police command staff only last week to discuss crime in the area.

"We talked about the drugs, the young people who are hanging out breaking into homes and creating havoc in the neighborhood. We've had several people shot in this area, and one killed two or three weeks ago," he said. "There's just a lot of criminal activity around here."