IMPD Chief Chris Bailey seeks community accountability after violent weekend

INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD Chief Chris Bailey said that, over the last five years, Indianapolis has focused on, and rightfully so, police accountability.

But when is the community going to turn that mirror on itself? That’s the question Bailey asked following a violent weekend that saw 13 people shot and two killed in less than nine hours Saturday night and Sunday morning.

”What is the community doing to reform itself?” Bailey asked. “There are people making decisions, bad ones, every single day that are costing lives and changing lives forever. And until those individuals choose to take a different path, we will continue to see these things.”

The weekend’s mayhem included two dead, five wounded during a shootout outside a northwest side bar at 3 a.m. Sunday. The shooting stemmed from a dispute between an Indianapolis man and a man from Chicago. As one gunman stole the other’s firearm, the first man then pulled a backup weapon, leading both men to fire at each other as a third gun was introduced into the melee and it was fired too.

When the smoke cleared, the two main combatants lay dead as the third gunman fled.

A couple hours earlier, IMPD officers were already patrolling in the vicinity of 56^th Street and Georgetown Road because of crowds gathering in parking lots to show off their cars. While they were monitoring the crowds, officers heard gunfire.

Witnesses later told police what they saw:

“They were walking around a building near a liquor store when two males pulled out guns from their backpacks and began shooting,” according to an IMPD report.

The gunman fled before his car got hung up on railroad tracks several miles away.

”A search warrant on his vehicle was served, and a handgun equipped with a machine gun conversion device was seized from that vehicle,” said Bailey.

A couple hours before that, two wounded 14-year-olds were delivered to the emergency department at Community East Hospital by a pair of 16-year-olds who immediately took off.

When police caught up with the 16-year-olds, officers discovered handguns also converted to shoot like machineguns.

That was happening at about the same time Saturday evening when employees at a McDonald’s restaurant near 38^th Street and Keystone Avenue called for help because one of their coworkers had a gun and threatened to shoot them.

When IMPD officers arrived and tried to make an arrest, a struggle ensued, the man’s gun went off and an officer also fired a shot.

No one was hit.

“Truth be told, I was just thinking about having to go back to prison,” the man, a convicted felon, told police after he was put in handcuffs.

”This was a difficult weekend for our city,” said Bailey. “It is unacceptable. Period. Guns are not the solution to anything.”

Clearly, advising people to not settle their differences with firearms violence is not getting through to some citizens, FOX59/CBS4’s Russ McQuaid said to Bailey. McQuaid also asked Bailey if systemic changes are needed to curb the attractive nuisances of violence-prone locations and activities like bars and car meet-ups.

”But three o’clock in the morning with booze and easy access to weapons, hot temper, and no skills whatsoever to deal with the conflict are things that, in the heat of the moment, and unless we know it’s going to happen then and there, it’s hard for us to intervene and stop it,” Bailey said.

”Somebody needs to take a look at the bar situation. Absolutely, I don’t think anything good happens after midnight. Repeatedly, we see things happen at two, three in the morning, after these bars close, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better, when you add the easy access to weapons that are available in our community, and you mix all those things I just talked about, boozed and late night and weapons and arguments and no ability to deal with conflict, then you’re going to continue to see these things happen.

”We need to figure how we can get ahold of these car meet ups and spinning and all those things too,” Bailey added, indicating his intelligence analysts and patrol officers spend their weekends tracking down the mobile street takeover parties. ”Maybe taking the vehicles more often is a way to do those things.”

He indicated authorities in Louisville recently crushed a $100,000 car confiscated in a street takeover investigation.

”There’s laws on the books right now about carrying guns when you’re not supposed to, and people still do it,” said Bailey. “There’s a couple laws about not shooting at other human beings, and they still do it.”

“Trying to enjoy yourself at night and in our community is something that should be allowed, and we are being affected by gun violence,” said Tony Lopez, Deputy Director of the City’s Office of Public Health and Safety.

”I have a meeting later this week with the bars on South Meridian Street,” said Bailey. “Because I see behavior, bad behavior, accelerating down there once again. We have to send a clear message to them.”

Lopez said OPHS violence interrupters are on the streets every weekend attempting to make contact with participants or witnesses to violent crime, and will be doing that this weekend during the Circle City Classic.

He touted the work being done with community groups aimed at curbing juvenile violence and said his staff is reviewing statistics to determine if their approach is paying off or in need of a reset.

”This weekend is a setback, but it does not define our city,” said Bailey. ”Every single crime category is down and is trending down over the last five years.”

Year-to-date numbers find non-fatal shootings are down 14.5% from a year ago and the tally of victims is down 12.9%

Criminal homicides are down 25.4% compared to 2024 and non-criminal homicides are off 26.67%.

”Each one of us must take responsibility for the choices we make,” said Bailey.