The Indy Channel
INDIANAPOLIS — An early morning shooting on the northeast side of Indianapolis left two men dead. The homicides marked the sixth and seventh gun-related deaths in the city in roughly 12 hours.
At roughly 12:45 a.m. Friday, a double shooting was reported in the 2400 block of Stuart Street, Indianapolis police (IMPD) confirmed.
Police identified the two victims as Michael Whitfield, 27; and Lorenzo Clark, Jr., 22; both are from Indianapolis.
Officials said one of the men was shot to death, and the other was rushed to Eskenazi Health. He was said to be extremely critical. Just after 5 a.m., IMPD said the second victim died at the hospital.
RTV6’s Anne Kelly was on the scene and spoke with someone who said he is the cousin of the man sent to the hospital. The man said the victim was 22 years old.
IMPD said detectives have very little information on what led to this shooting.
Earlier Thursday evening, sources told RTV6’s Rafael Sanchez four people were found shot to death in a home in the 3400 block of South Parker Avenue, near Interstate 65 and Keystone Avenue. It happened at roughly 8 p.m.
Sources confirmed two males and two females were found inside the home. Officials with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said all of the people found dead were adults.
Sources also confirmed to RTV6 the incident did not appear to be random and it may have been a targeted attack.
Just before 5 p.m. Thursday, police headed to a neighborhood on the near-north side of Indianapolis to investigate a shooting that killed one person and reportedly left a number of witnesses.
Police said they believed this shooting was targeted, not random.
An RTV6 analysis of the city’s 2013 murder rate compared to Chicago’s shows Indy has seen roughly 10 percent more homicides per capita than the Windy City.
Chicago, with a population of more than 2.7 million, has reported 409 murders and justifiable homicides this year, according to www.DNAinfo.com, which tracks the city’s crime rate. That puts it at roughly 15.1 homicides per 100,000 residents.
Indianapolis in 2013, by comparison, saw 140 homicides to its 822,000 citizens for a homicide rate of 17 per 100,000 people.
Reprinted with permission from the Indy Channel