| 2018 INDIANAPOLIS HOMICIDE INDEX |
| Main Index 2018 HOMICIDES: January-March 2018 April-June 2018 July-September 2018 October-December 2018 2018 OTHER: 2018 Non-fatal Shootings 2018 Hit-and-Runs |
Indianapolis FBI Concerning Violent Crime
This is an excerpt concerning just violent crime, from the Star Newspaper November 27, 2018 - Full Article
Violent crime caused by gangs
While some FBI agents are investigating national security threats, others are working alongside state and local police officers to combat violent crime.
The problem is especially dire in Indianapolis, which is at risk of logging its fourth straight year of a record number of homicides.
And in Indianapolis, agents told us, violence is caused by gangs who carry guns to protect the territory where they sell drugs.
"They don't live in our world. They have to have a gun," said Ed Wheele, a supervisory special agent who leads the local Safe Streets Task Force.
That task force — composed of FBI agents and nine other law enforcement officers from IMPD, Indiana State Police, Fishers and Marion County
sheriff's office — focuses on long-term investigations that target criminal enterprises, Wheele said.
They're searching trash bins to hunt for evidence of drug dealing. They're analyzing phone records.
And they're monitoring conversations through wire taps.
"We were on phones 292 days last year," Wheele said.
Using a wire tap, though, is a time-consuming process that begins with a lengthy affidavit that can take weeks to prepare, Wheele said. Every order
requires the approval of a federal judge, U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler and even senior Department of Justice officials.
After approval, the investigation, too, is time-consuming. Agents can spend more than half a day listening to phones, Wheele said, while others are
conducting surveillance in person.
Last year, agents used wire taps for at least three cases, including the federal investigation into Richard Grundy III and his associates, code-named
Operation Electric Avenue.
Grundy is accused of leading a gang that bought methamphetamine from Phoenix, storing it in stash houses in Indianapolis and distributing the drugs
throughout the area, according to an unsealed federal indictment. The defendants also are accused of dealing heroin and marijuana. The cases are
still pending, according to federal court records.
This is an excerpt concerning just violent crime, from the Star Newspaper November 27, 2018 - Full Article
Violent crime caused by gangs
While some FBI agents are investigating national security threats, others are working alongside state and local police officers to combat violent crime.
The problem is especially dire in Indianapolis, which is at risk of logging its fourth straight year of a record number of homicides.
And in Indianapolis, agents told us, violence is caused by gangs who carry guns to protect the territory where they sell drugs.
"They don't live in our world. They have to have a gun," said Ed Wheele, a supervisory special agent who leads the local Safe Streets Task Force.
That task force — composed of FBI agents and nine other law enforcement officers from IMPD, Indiana State Police, Fishers and Marion County
sheriff's office — focuses on long-term investigations that target criminal enterprises, Wheele said.
They're searching trash bins to hunt for evidence of drug dealing. They're analyzing phone records.
And they're monitoring conversations through wire taps.
"We were on phones 292 days last year," Wheele said.
Using a wire tap, though, is a time-consuming process that begins with a lengthy affidavit that can take weeks to prepare, Wheele said. Every order
requires the approval of a federal judge, U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler and even senior Department of Justice officials.
After approval, the investigation, too, is time-consuming. Agents can spend more than half a day listening to phones, Wheele said, while others are
conducting surveillance in person.
Last year, agents used wire taps for at least three cases, including the federal investigation into Richard Grundy III and his associates, code-named
Operation Electric Avenue.
Grundy is accused of leading a gang that bought methamphetamine from Phoenix, storing it in stash houses in Indianapolis and distributing the drugs
throughout the area, according to an unsealed federal indictment. The defendants also are accused of dealing heroin and marijuana. The cases are
still pending, according to federal court records.
| 2018 Indianapolis Homicide Charts Current as of Dec 20, 2018 from Indianapolis Star Article |
END OF YEAR UPDATE:
Dec 31st, 2018 - Indianapolis once again
surpassed it's previous highest murder numbers,
with 159, 2 more than last year.
IMPD recovered more than 3,000 illegally
possessed firearms last year as part of the
City's violence reduction strategy.
IMPD returned to community-based beat
policing last April, allowing officers to build
stronger partnerships with the community, and
ended 2018 with a 64% clearance rate, a more
than 20% improvement over the previous year.
26 homicide victims were women compared to
151 men
Dec 31st, 2018 - Indianapolis once again
surpassed it's previous highest murder numbers,
with 159, 2 more than last year.
IMPD recovered more than 3,000 illegally
possessed firearms last year as part of the
City's violence reduction strategy.
IMPD returned to community-based beat
policing last April, allowing officers to build
stronger partnerships with the community, and
ended 2018 with a 64% clearance rate, a more
than 20% improvement over the previous year.
26 homicide victims were women compared to
151 men
| Jan-Dec 2018 Indianapolis Murder Map |
2018 Indianapolis Criminal Homicides List - from USA Today
| 2018 NATIONAL STATISTICS |
The Guardian
Gun deaths in US rise to highest level in 20 years, data shows
Forty thousand people were killed in shootings last year amid a growing number of suicides involving
firearms, CDC reveals
A steady rise in suicides involving firearms has pushed the rate of gun deaths in the US to its highest
rate in more than 20 years, with almost 40,000 people killed in shootings in 2017, according to new
figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC’s Wonder database shows that in 2017, 39,773 people in the US lost their lives at the point
of a gun, marking the onward march of firearm fatalities in a country renowned for its lax approach to
gun controls. When adjusted for age fluctuations, that represents a total of 12 deaths per 100,000
people – up from 10.1 in 2010 and the highest rate since 1996.
What that bare statistic represents in terms of human tragedy is most starkly reflected when set along
side those of other countries. According to a recent study from the Jama Network, it compares with
rates of 0.2 deaths per 100,000 people in Japan, 0.3 in the UK, 0.9 in Germany and 2.1 in Canada.
Jama found that just six countries in the world are responsible for more than half of all 250,000 gun
deaths a year around the globe. The US is among those six, together with Brazil, Mexico, Colombia,
Venezuela and Guatemala.
That America is sapped by a continuing epidemic of gun deaths is hardly news. But the new CDC data
raises concern that even within that relentlessly consistent story of bloodletting, the carnage continues
to worsen.
While much of the public attention is on the intense tragedies of gun massacres in the US – 2017 saw
the deadliest mass shooting by an individual to take place in the country in modern history, when 58
people died in the 1 October rampage on the Las Vegas Strip – in fact most suffering takes place in
isolated and lonely incidents that receive scant media coverage.
Of those, suicide is by far the greatest killer, accounting for about 60% of all gun deaths.
Here too the age-adjusted rates are showing an alarming increase. In 2017, the CDC data shows, 6.9
per 100,000 – almost 24,000 people – killed themselves with a gun, up from 6.1 in 2010 and 5.9 in
2000.
Research by the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence underlines that the tragedy of gun violence
and suicides is not spread randomly across the country, but is concentrated precisely in those places
where gun ownership is most prevalent and gun laws at their loosest. When the fund analysed the new
CDC statistics, it discovered the highest rates of gun suicides occurred in three states which also have
the greatest gun ownership – Montana (19.4 gun suicides per 100,000), Wyoming (16.6) and Alaska
(16.0).
Alaska has the highest rate of gun ownership in the US, with 61.7% distribution. Wyoming (53.8%)
and Montana (52.3%) are also at the top of the league table.
The statistics speak to a brutally simple truth. Studies have shown that suicide attempts often take
place in a moment of hopelessness that can last barely minutes – which means that easy access to a
firearm can in itself exponentially increase the risk of self-harm.
“People often think with suicides involving firearms that there’s nothing we can do to prevent this,”
said the Education Fund’s policy analyst, Dakota Jablon. “But looking at these numbers it’s clear that
simply having a lot of guns around increases the danger.”
Jablon pointed out that access to a gun in the home increases the odds of suicide more than threefold.
The CDC data shows that gun homicides account for a smaller proportion of the total of gun deaths,
but here too there has been a worrying uptick in the past few years. The CDC figures show that 14,542
people were killed in firearm homicides in 2017, a rate of 4.6 per 100,000 that held steady on the
previous year.
That was up from an equivalent rate of 4.2 in 2015 and 3.6 in 2010.
Gun deaths in US rise to highest level in 20 years, data shows
Forty thousand people were killed in shootings last year amid a growing number of suicides involving
firearms, CDC reveals
A steady rise in suicides involving firearms has pushed the rate of gun deaths in the US to its highest
rate in more than 20 years, with almost 40,000 people killed in shootings in 2017, according to new
figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC’s Wonder database shows that in 2017, 39,773 people in the US lost their lives at the point
of a gun, marking the onward march of firearm fatalities in a country renowned for its lax approach to
gun controls. When adjusted for age fluctuations, that represents a total of 12 deaths per 100,000
people – up from 10.1 in 2010 and the highest rate since 1996.
What that bare statistic represents in terms of human tragedy is most starkly reflected when set along
side those of other countries. According to a recent study from the Jama Network, it compares with
rates of 0.2 deaths per 100,000 people in Japan, 0.3 in the UK, 0.9 in Germany and 2.1 in Canada.
Jama found that just six countries in the world are responsible for more than half of all 250,000 gun
deaths a year around the globe. The US is among those six, together with Brazil, Mexico, Colombia,
Venezuela and Guatemala.
That America is sapped by a continuing epidemic of gun deaths is hardly news. But the new CDC data
raises concern that even within that relentlessly consistent story of bloodletting, the carnage continues
to worsen.
While much of the public attention is on the intense tragedies of gun massacres in the US – 2017 saw
the deadliest mass shooting by an individual to take place in the country in modern history, when 58
people died in the 1 October rampage on the Las Vegas Strip – in fact most suffering takes place in
isolated and lonely incidents that receive scant media coverage.
Of those, suicide is by far the greatest killer, accounting for about 60% of all gun deaths.
Here too the age-adjusted rates are showing an alarming increase. In 2017, the CDC data shows, 6.9
per 100,000 – almost 24,000 people – killed themselves with a gun, up from 6.1 in 2010 and 5.9 in
2000.
Research by the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence underlines that the tragedy of gun violence
and suicides is not spread randomly across the country, but is concentrated precisely in those places
where gun ownership is most prevalent and gun laws at their loosest. When the fund analysed the new
CDC statistics, it discovered the highest rates of gun suicides occurred in three states which also have
the greatest gun ownership – Montana (19.4 gun suicides per 100,000), Wyoming (16.6) and Alaska
(16.0).
Alaska has the highest rate of gun ownership in the US, with 61.7% distribution. Wyoming (53.8%)
and Montana (52.3%) are also at the top of the league table.
The statistics speak to a brutally simple truth. Studies have shown that suicide attempts often take
place in a moment of hopelessness that can last barely minutes – which means that easy access to a
firearm can in itself exponentially increase the risk of self-harm.
“People often think with suicides involving firearms that there’s nothing we can do to prevent this,”
said the Education Fund’s policy analyst, Dakota Jablon. “But looking at these numbers it’s clear that
simply having a lot of guns around increases the danger.”
Jablon pointed out that access to a gun in the home increases the odds of suicide more than threefold.
The CDC data shows that gun homicides account for a smaller proportion of the total of gun deaths,
but here too there has been a worrying uptick in the past few years. The CDC figures show that 14,542
people were killed in firearm homicides in 2017, a rate of 4.6 per 100,000 that held steady on the
previous year.
That was up from an equivalent rate of 4.2 in 2015 and 3.6 in 2010.
The Indianapolis Police Department released the final homicide statistics from 2018:
| 2018 Total Homicides: 2018 Intentional Homicides (Murders): Self-defense/Defense of Another/Other non-criminal: |
178
158
20
158
20
2018 Monthly Totals:
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
16 5 11 9 18 11 12 18 17 11 17 13