Indianapolis kids are often hit by gunfire. Even when they survive, deep scars remain

The X-ray shows where the bullet lodged in the girl's hand.

It took surgeons 45 minutes in August to remove the projectile, which shattered then-9-year-old Ka'leah Brown's pinky bone and traveled just short of her thumb. White scar tissue, the size of a pencil eraser, is all that remains.

But not all scars are visible.

Brown regularly sees a therapist. Her younger sisters, 6-year-old A’raylah and 3-year-old Zariah, who shared the bunk beds struck when bullets sprayed into their apartment, still awaken from the slightest noise even after moving into a new home miles from the events of that morning.

The family of five — through no fault of their own — are now dealing with the consequence of the gun violence plaguing Indianapolis streets.

Despite crime, including shootings, trending down this year to the tune of 13%, some of the city’s youngest residents will forever carry the burden of being stricken by gunfire, often at random. The latest data from Indianapolis police show nine kids younger than nine years old have been shot in the city as of Dec. 28.

Many children survive the shooting. But whether their physical injuries only require a Band-Aid, or intensive surgery, the impacts are long-lasting. And they extend beyond the child who got hurt.

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Nearly 2 people on average shot in city each day

Indianapolis this year has averaged 1.9 people shot each day, according to the latest data compiled by the city's police department. The gunfire has amounted to 577 non-fatal shootings, and 660 victims as of Dec. 23. Police data further show the city recorded 677 shootings in all of 2021, with 762 victims.

While police say most shootings in Indianapolis are targeted attacks, when gunfire misses its mark, often the city's children pay the price.

With the exception of 2020, Riley Hospital for Children has seen a steadily-increasing number of children with gunshot wounds. Through Dec. 15 this year, 31 children with gunshot wounds have been admitted to the hospital from violent shootings, such as drive-bys or stray bullets. The number of children shot climbs higher when including accidental shootings.

In 2021, the city's deadliest year on record, 38 children were treated for gunshot wounds at Riley Hospital.

Beyond Indianapolis, gun violence impacting youth also has worsened, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. The non-profit organization collects information from law enforcement, media, government and commercial sources to get a collective look at gun violence in America.

In 2014, close to 3,000 youth, between the ages of 0 and 17, were killed or injured in shootings across the country. That number increased to more than 5,000 in 2020, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Deandra Dycus sees the headlines about people shot in Indianapolis who are expected to live and fixates on one word often used to describe their condition: Survives. She ruminates on how that word pertains to her son, DeAndre Knox.

Over eight years ago, Knox was struck in the back of the head by a stray bullet at a party. The wound left him paralyzed and unable to speak. He was 13.

DeAndre Knox survived, Dycus said, but their family's life is forever altered.

"Somebody decided to shoot up a birthday party and then my house became a hospital room," she said.

This year alone, Knox has had four extended hospital stays, three of which required the now-22-year-old to be intubated. It lead to the painful decision by his mother to sign a do-not-resuscitate order this year.

"That’s the part people don’t get ... when you get the phone calls and the hospital stays over and over, it’s like losing your child over and over again," Dycus said. "That’s what our 8-and-a-half years have been like."

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When the shooting investigation involves a child

When a juvenile is shot, Indianapolis’ deputy chief of investigations, Kendale Adams, said the violence captures their attention.

"When we see there’s a juvenile involved, I think there’s this effort to (overturn) every stone,” he said.

This year alone, police have investigated shootings involving an 8-year-old and 10-year-old shot while jumping in a bouncy house, a 7-year-old shot while in a car, an 11-year-old boy shot when gunfire hit his home, an 8-year-old found shot at a gas station and a 4-year-old girl shot while in a vehicle.

And the violence continues. Wednesday night, an 8-year-old girl was shot in the leg while inside her East Washington Street home.

Like Ka'leah Brown, all survived their physical wounds.

That care by police goes beyond investigating the crime for many officers. Indianapolis police for Christmas this year helped raise funds for Laquisha Brown, Ka'leah Brown's mother, to buy holiday gifts at Walmart for her family. It's the second year police have raised money for a family whose child was shot.

The Christmas outing gave Laquisha Brown, 25, the holiday she didn't think she would get to give her kids. It also was a far cry from the chiming on her phone reminding her about the therapy appointments her daughter now has to make, or the family's dachshund, Gracie, she credits with saving Ka'leah's life by nudging her head away from where the bullet ripped through her bed moments later.

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The page: Riley doctors respond

When a page pings around the emergency department at Riley Hospital for Children, details are usually scant.

Gunshot wound. A patient's age. Where the bullet (or bullets) hit the child.

While such alerts are rare, estimated between 40 to 60 children each year among the roughly 2,000 admitted in the emergency room, treating them has some of the highest impact on hospital resources.

“For everyone in the department, the brakes get put on when a trauma comes in and too often, it’s a gunshot wound," said Cory Showalter, medical director of the emergency department at Riley Hospital.

The children with more serious injuries from gunshot wounds will have longer recovery times that may include physical therapy and routine visits back to the doctor. But doctors caution the toll on the child and family doesn't end when they leave the hospital.

"The significance of the physical injuries doesn’t always correlate to what happens mentally, which I think is a unique aspect of not only gun violence but pediatric trauma in general," said Matt Landman, trauma medical director at Riley Hospital.

Zack Adams, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at Indiana University’s School of Medicine, said recovery treatments are physically demanding enough. They also serve as reminders about what happened, which can cause more stress.

“It’s a disruption to most parts of people’s lives,” he said.

Ruthie Melvin's daughter faced a traumatic reminder about being shot when she returned to school. For weeks, the then-12-year-old had to wear a neck brace in 2021 following a drive-by shooting that caused bullets to ricochet off the walls in her family's home and hit her neck. Melvin told IndyStar she's gotten phone calls from employees at the school informing her that her daughter broke down and started crying when her classmates saw her brace and asked what happened.

"I wouldn’t wanna walk around with a brace on my neck and people ask me what happened and it just really hit you and you have to imagine everything that happened again,” she said.

Doctors and advocates say the effects of the shootings don't just impact the child shot. Siblings, parents and friends need support as well. Melvin said her young son in the days and weeks after the shooting often asked if the trigger-pullers would come back.

Dycus said that in a way, the shooting of her oldest son has left her with two children needing special care. Her youngest child, now 18, was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, among other things, in the aftermath of the gun violence that forced him at nine years old to became part of his older brother's caretaking team.

"He just can’t understand why his brother has had to live a life like this. Even all these years later," Dycus said. "Imagine a 9-year-old having to put a diaper on his 13-year-old brother, who was once his protector?"

The toll

Shardae Hoskins, program manager for violence reduction with the Office of Public Health and Safety, said plugging families into services is their main focus when a child is shot.

“A shooting is super traumatic, which can cause a child to lash out or retreat and get really quiet,” she said. “We really want to attach them to those community-based organizations hosting grief circles and different ways to talk about their experiences.”

Indianapolis police also have a team dedicated solely to offer help to victims of violent crimes. Lisa Brown, who oversees the Victims Assistance Unit, said her team of 10 or so advocates are at the scenes of shootings to offer support for the whole family.

On the day she spoke to IndyStar, Brown spent the morning referring a family to counseling for a 3-year-old whose sibling was shot.

When asked if she could explain the toll of such shootings to those pulling the trigger, she was to the point.

"You have no idea what damage you're doing to people," Brown said.

IndyStar journalist Jake Allen contributed to this report.

Contact Sarah Nelson at 317-503-7514 or sarah.nelson@indystar.com

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis crime: The impact of gun violence on Indianapolis children