Coroner identifies man shot to death during disturbance at west side apartment, IMPD says

Update: This story was updated Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021, to identify the decedent.

A man was found shot to death at an apartment on the west side of Indianapolis after a reported disturbance at the residence Tuesday night, according to police.

His death is being investigated as a homicide.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers found the man unresponsive minutes after 10:45 p.m. at the apartment complex in the 3300 block of Heather Ridge Drive, just off West 34th Street and near North Wayne Elementary School, a department spokesperson said.

The man, identified as 32-year-old Terence Martin by the Marion County Coroner's Office, had been shot at least once, police said. Martin was pronounced dead at the scene.

Law enforcement officials have released little information about Martin's death other than officers were dispatched to the apartment "to investigate a disturbance."

A search of public police records shows police were dispatched to the same address for a domestic assault on Nov. 28, 2020. Martin in the report was listed as the victim of an attack by a woman with a weapon.

No additional information about the shooting has been released.

Martin's death marked the 249th homicide in Indianapolis this year. Last week, the city broke its all-time record of 245 homicides, which was set last year.

The shooting occurred just hours before two police officers were stabbed in an attack on the north side of Indianapolis early Wednesday morning. IMPD Assistant Chief Chris Bailey at the scene said the violence in the city is "unacceptable."

Bailey said police are "going to keep working at" trying to curb the violence, noting the allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, as well as a "fully-funded" budget from the City-County Council, as help toward combating the violence.

But he said "law enforcement alone is not going to solve the issues we see around violent crime." The community, he noted, will also have to find solutions.

“Anytime we lose a life in the city, it’s unacceptable,” Bailey said of gun violence early Wednesday morning. “We have a gun problem, and we have a conflict resolution problem. Those two things — when they collide, bad things happen.”

Police ask anyone with information about Tuesday night's shooting to contact Detective Douglas Swails at the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or e-mail him at Douglas.Swails@Indy.Gov.

Anonymous tips can be given to Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 or (TIPS).

Contact Lawrence Andrea at 317-775-4313 or landrea@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @lawrencegandrea.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis crime: Coroner IDs man killed on Heather Ridge Drive