Stephen Flynn delivered pizzas to make people smile. He was lured, then shot, on his last order
Stephen Flynn found solace delivering pizzas in recent years, having started the new job when the Covid-19 pandemic forced isolation from friends and family.
The 57-year-old wanted to help with the uptick of delivery orders at the restaurant chain store, near 10th Street and Shadeland Avenue. He loved the freedom and ability to socialize with pizza delivery, his family said.
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“He always said ‘People always have a smile when you bring them a pizza',” said Kevin Flynn, his cousin.
Tragically, Stephen Flynn was shot and killed doing what brought smiles to others.
March 30, Flynn was delivering pizza to a vacant home in the 1400 block of Priscilla Avenue in the Community Heights neighborhood on the east side when gunfire ensued. His family said the shooter took his car and pizza and left. No arrest has been announced in the shooting.
His killing comes nearly five years after the killing of another Papa John’s delivery driver that occurred under nearly-identical circumstances. In that case, LaVon Drake took off his manager’s hat to fill in as a delivery driver in August 2018. Drake was lured to a vacant home and killed. Three people are serving their sentences in Drake’s killing.
Stephen Flynn’s family is now hoping for justice, and that he is remembered beyond the tragedy.
The kindest man
Stephen Flynn, one of 10 siblings, graduated from Tri Junior-Senior High School and went on St. Meinrad in 1988, his sister said. He enrolled in Mundelein Seminary to become a priest, but decided against the profession.
He then worked more than two decades as an efficiency manager at FedEx Express near the Indianapolis airport. He could’ve retired when he was laid off before the pandemic hit, his sister, Mary Flynn, said, but wanted to continue working. He started at Papa John’s.
“We were wanting him to quit that job, because we thought it was dangerous,” Mary Flynn said.
Mary Flynn said her brother often picked up extra shifts if someone called in sick. She describes her brother as a sociable, kind person, who made impressions on people even if he met them briefly. She recently moved back to Indianapolis from Albuquerque, and have friends calling from New Mexico to share kind memories of Stephen Flynn – having only met him for a few minutes.
“He was just a very kind man,” Mary Flynn said.
Stephen Flynn leaves behind two children.
To honor his deep Catholic faith, his family will wait for a funeral until after Holy Week.
Contact Sarah Nelson at 317-503-7514 or sarah.nelson@indystar.com
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis crime: Stephen Flynn killed delivering pizzas
