'Now we don't have anything': Family whose home was shot at 5 times fears for safety
Update: This article was updated Oct. 20, 2022, with information about charges that were brought in this case.
Six years ago when Lance and Candi Huffman were considering purchasing their Community Heights home, the couple was excited to raise their family in Indianapolis, the city where they'd grown up.
They would take their kids to the children’s museum, farmers market and the parks. They remembered riding old scooters and bikes in the city as kids.
Now, when Lance Huffman looks at the brick ranch-style house in the 1400 block of North Audubon Street, he sees dozens of bullet holes. They litter the front door, the living room walls and his daughters’ rooms.
On Oct. 16, for the fifth time, the Huffman family’s house was shot into from the same white car.
“If my family was there last night, there’d be three dead kids today,” Lance said Monday. “We’re sick, we’re absolutely sick. It’s tearing us apart.”
The couple have three girls ages 1, 6 and 8.
Months of terror
The first shooting in early August left a bullet hole in the living room wall. The bullet hit at high-chair level, Lance said. His wife and their 1-year-old daughter were just on the other side of the wall — his daughter sitting in her high chair, eating a popsicle.
It was an accidental shooting, Lance thought, or the shooter had the wrong house. Then the house was shot into again on Aug. 30. His wife was again home with the baby. The bullets hit the basement window and in between his kids’ bedrooms.
The home was shot at twice in September and once in October. They have no idea why their home is being targeted.
The Huffmans have done everything they can think to bring an end to the shootings. They've provided surveillance footage of the shootings, as well as vehicle information to the police, they said.
Before an arrest was made, Lance Huffman said they felt helpless.
"It keeps happening, it just keeps happening," he said. "And we yell and scream and beg for help and it just keeps happening."
The information the Huffmans have given police is vital to helping solve the case, but detectives have a major hurdle to overcome: proving who was pulling the trigger. Detectives have interviewed a number of people related to the case but are limited by eyewitness testimony and physical evidence.
“The crux of all criminal investigations comes down to eyewitness testimony and physical evidence, neither of which are readily available in this case," the department said in a prepared statement. "While we have a suspect vehicle, we do not have an eyewitness or physical evidence to link a specific person to these shootings. While (we) understand the frustration from the Huffman family, we must ensure the proper investigate steps are taken to develop probable cause to make an arrest,” IMPD said.
After the second shooting, the Huffman family stopped staying in their home. At least 45 gunshots have been aimed at the house during the past three months.
Police on Wednesday morning said an arrest was made in the case. A 31-year-old man from Lawrence was arrested and preliminarily charged with four counts of criminal recklessness, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The affidavit for the arrest did not provide a motive.
Police used a combination of eyewitness accounts, ballistic evidence and license plate readers to make the arrest, the affidavit said.
The man has been charged with three counts of criminal recklessness, according to a news release from the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office Thursday.
“This case illustrates the challenges of people having access to high-powered firearms,” Prosecutor Ryan Mears said. “Today’s announcement is merely one step in the investigative process. We will continue to collaborate with law enforcement to build upon this investigation.”
Mears credited the community and neighbors who played a significant role in the filing of charges, the release said.
During a search of the suspect’s home, investigators located ammunition and a high-powered rifle, according to the prosecutor's office. Multiple shell casings and a bullet hole were discovered during a search of the suspect’s vehicle.
Shootings put major financial strain on the family
The shootings have caused the family dire financial stress.
“We’re obviously hemorrhaging money, trying to make this work,” Lance Huffman said.
The Huffmans packed most of their possessions up and moved them into storage units. They're paying for temporary housing while continuing to pay for the mortgage on their house, which they worry won't sell. They’ve paid to replace shattered windows. Lance has taken multiple days off of work.
When the Huffman family came to Indianapolis, they were financially stable, Lance Huffman said. Though they didn’t have a lot of financial support from family, they worked hard to live comfortably. Candi Huffman worked three jobs and Lance Huffman works manual labor.
“I’m a sewer worker, so what I do is not glamorous. I’m not a lawyer or something. I clean sewers,” he said. “I worked real hard to get this stuff for (my family)."
They wanted to be able to give their kids a good childhood, Lance Huffman said, wanted to build good memories for them. They tried to take a trip to Disney once a year. This year, they had to cancel.
“They’re little girls, this is what they look forward to,” their dad said.
“And now, we don’t have anything,” Candi Huffman added.
'We're scared of people now'
Even after an arrest, the impact on the family is multifaceted and will take years to overcome. The shootings have changed the way they look at the world, Lance Huffman said.
Before the shootings, the house didn’t have surveillance cameras. The family didn't think they were needed. Lance Huffman doesn't like the apps that give you updates about crime in the city because he felt they were a negative influence.
If you put good in, you get good out, he used to think. The family fostered kittens, they put their two older daughters in Girl Scouts to learn how to help others.
“Now we’re the kind of people that are just staying up all night watching our stupid cameras,” he said. “We’re scared of people now.”
The family is in therapy because of the repeated shootings and Candi Huffman suffers from anxiety.
Their girls, who they tried hard to protect from violence, had the dangers of the world arrive at their front door.
“And now, they’re thrust into it, at this age,” he said. “They’ll always know that people shoot at you. That there’s a chance that you’re going to die.”
The Huffmans have lost the place they call home. They miss the street they lived on and their neighborhood, which they loved. They miss the community.
"What do you do? You can't do anything," Lance Huffman said. "You're just at the mercy of the law."
Donations to the Huffman family can be made on GoFundMe.
Anyone with information on these shootings can contact IMPD East District at 317-327-6200 or anonymously at Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS.
Contact Phyllis Cha at pcha@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @phyllischa.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis crime: Family lives in fear as house targeted by gunfire
