Haughville hopes for unity in face of youth violence after police shooting

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – There have been three IMPD officers attacked and injured on the job in the last week, according to the department, as the city works to get a handle on recent high-profile shootings. 

Tuesday, an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer was shot three times while trying to arrest the driver of a stolen car. 

The shooting ended with two suspects under arrest, both now charged, another suspect in the hospital in critical condition, and a fourth suspect still on the run. The officer, a four-year veteran of IMPD, left the hospital on Wednesday, surrounded by a crowd of cheering police. 

• Heroic neighbors aid officer shot in west side police shooting

One other officer broke his leg while wrestling a suspect during an arrest on Tuesday. IMPD didn’t provide specific details about the third officer hurt.

Tuesday’s shooting happened in the Haughville neighborhood at an apartment complex just down the road from Pastor Dwight Harwell’s church, Latter House Ministries. 

“We cannot let one incident define the neighborhood,” Harwell said.

Haughville is an area where there’ve been multiple public efforts to build the relationship between police and the public. IMPD recruits helped paint over graffiti in the spring, and officers joined a show of unity when neighbors faced rampant vandalism. 

It’s an area Harwell believes has potential, even though challenges are created by recent high-profile youth and gun violence. 

“Within the church body, even we struggle sometimes to meet the need because the need is so overwhelming,” Harwell said. 

Indianapolis City-County Councilmember Vop Osili says challenges like these are “incredibly troubling.”

Osili represents the west side district which covers Haughville. He says there’s been a concerted effort to reach out to at-risk youth and families since the Independence Day weekend mass shooting downtown – the first of two Indianapolis mass shootings in July. 

“This is not a we-they thing,” Osili said. “This really is an ‘us’ thing.” 

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett told News 8 in a statement: 

“Every time they don their badge, IMPD officers are putting their safety on the line to protect the safety of our city. The officer shot in the line of duty yesterday was doing exactly what we ask of our police department: proactively patrolling and working to prevent crime. 

Indianapolis is fortunate to have the best police department in the country, and I am grateful every day for our officers’ dedication to our community. 

My prayers are with the injured officer, his wife, his family, and his fellow officers. And I extend my gratitude to all the first responders who came to the scene, the community members who quickly came to the officer’s aid, and the medical professionals at Eskenazi who continue to do everything they can to make sure this officer makes a full recovery.”

IMPD has not identified the officer shot. He’s on administrative leave, pending a review of the shootout. Later Tuesday evening, IMPD said an officer broke their fibula while arresting a man for assault, marking the third line-of-duty injury in a week.

Anyone with information on the other suspect or about the shooting was asked to contact Sgt. Brian Lambert at the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475.

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