Three people in custody in shooting of Beech Grove teen and 7-year-old
Three people are in custody in connection with a shooting that injured a child and a teenager at a Beech Grove apartment complex Thursday morning, according to officials.
Police were called to the 3600 block of Pearlbush Avenue on a report of shots fired around 7 a.m. They found shell casings and bullets sprayed across the lawn outside the apartment. At least two dozen bullets were fired from two weapons into the apartment, said deputy chief of the Beech Grove Police Department Tom Hurrle.
The 7-year-old girl and the teenage girl were both transported to Riley Hospital for Children after they were shot in their lower extremities. Both girls were in “good condition” as of Thursday afternoon, Hurrle said.
Beech Grove Mayor James Coffman called the shooting “senseless.”
“I have young children myself,” Coffman said. “I cannot imagine my children being a victim like that. My sympathy and my prayers are with the family and those children for what they went through this morning."
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There were other people inside the apartment at the time of the shooting, who were not struck. Bullets pierced the inner walls of the home and anyone inside could have been hurt, Hurrle said.
Police are trying to determine if the shooting was targeted.
“If they are inclined to do something as egregious as this then the sky is the limit,” Hurrle said. “Until those people are brought into custody and until justice is served, we are all in danger."
About five hours after the shooting, witness information led police to the three suspects, who fled in a vehicle. The suspects crashed the vehicle into a large stone near the intersection of Emerson and Southeastern avenues. All three suspects fled on foot after the crash then were apprehended, Hurrle said.
The three were not charged in Thursday morning’s shooting at the time of the news conference, but are facing firearms and resisting law enforcement charges, according to police.
Hurrle said he tries not to become numb to the shootings that have plagued communities across the country by remembering the victims and their families.
The shooting in Beech Grove happened one day after one person was killed and 21 other people, including several children, were hurt in a shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration.
Tuesday was the first anniversary of a shooting at Michigan State University that took the lives of three students and left five other students wounded. Wednesday was the sixth anniversary of a shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead, and 17 others injured.
When asked what changes need to happen or what tools officers could be provided to slow gun violence in Beech Grove, Hurrle didn’t have an answer.
"I can't imagine what that would be,” Hurrle said.
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Three people in custody after teen and girl hurt in Beech Grove shooting
