Troubled Indy apartment complex sees 4th homicide in less than 6 months

INDIANAPOLIS — Police continue to search for a killer after an 18-year-old is shot to death and two others are wounded at a troubled east side apartment complex.

Just after 4 o’clock Tuesday afternoon, police believe an argument between two young women escalated to gunfire here at the Hawthorne Apartments and left 18-year-old Lashelle Hewlett dead.

The teen’s mother and a third victim were also wounded.

The deadly shooting marks the 4th homicide in less than 6 months at the same complex near 32nd and Emerson.

Unfortunately, all four killings remain unsolved.

“That pain, you’ll remember that pain for the rest of your life and it’s never going anywhere,” said Derico Young.

Derico Young doesn’t know the Hewlett family, but he can relate to the grief they’re feeling, because his 14-year-old step daughter Kaleiah Dean was shot to death in the same complex less than 3 months ago in November.

“Some pain they say gets easier, but when you’re dealing with a homicide, that pain gets harder as you go on,” said Young.

In addition to those two unsolved murders, 23-year-old Leonard Germany III was shot and killed in the complex in mid-December and 21-year-old Daevion Martin was shot to death on the property last August.

Currently more than a dozen units are boarded up in the complex and the main office building is closed until further notice, according to a sign posted by management.

A spokesman for the Indianapolis Housing Agency, which oversees the complex, said they are working on improvement plans for all IHA properties.

That plan includes an assessment of safety and security.

It needs some improvement because the area right now is just not safe,” said Young.

For his part, Derico has started a support group for families impacted by violence called Ree Ree’s Place in Kokomo.  That’s named in honor of his other daughter, Derisha Young, who was also shot and killed in 2021.

In the meantime, he still hopes for justice in all the unsolved deaths.

“We would like answers.  We would like to know something.  It would feel a lot better to find out something,” said Young.

Anyone with information about Tuesday’s incident should contact Detective Daniel Hiatt at the IMPD Homicide Office at 317.327.3475 or e-mail him at Daniel.Hiatt@indy.gov

Alternatively, they can call Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317.262.8477 or (TIPS) to remain anonymous.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTTV CBS4Indy.