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Law enforcement wants help from the public as gun violence escalates in Indianapolis.

String Of Shootings Leaves Indy Leaders Struggling For Answers

POSTED: 5:48 pm EDT August 6, 2006
UPDATED: 3:53 pm EDT August 7, 2006

Indianapolis and Marion County officials are considering several short-term solutions to help stem the tide of gun violence that has claimed 11 lives since Wednesday, with six of the deaths coming over the weekend.

Officials are planning to extend police patrol shifts by two hours, convene an evening drug court to expedite cases and lease 200 jail beds to alleviate overcrowding at the jail.


Images: Six Killed In Shootings
Officials Seek Public Input After Shootings

The shootings made for a long, arduous weekend for the city's top brass, all of whom Mayor Bart Peterson summoned to an emergency meeting on Saturday after shootings claimed five lives late Friday and early Saturday, 6News' Linda Allen reported.

Sheriff Frank Anderson, Indianapolis Police Chief Michael Spears and Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said violent crime is now a top priority for the city, and all offered thoughts about how to stop the onslaught.

One measure that was talked about was imposing tighter controls on the county's criminal justice system and eliminating early release.

"The message has to be very clear to the criminals that we're not doing business the way we have been doing business -- that the APC is not going to be a revolving door," Brizzi said.

"We don't know what the effect would be, but it would be an early step in getting this crime explosion under control," Peterson said.

Most of the victims involved in the weekend's deadly rampage had criminal pasts, Allen reported.

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The wave of violence began at about 10 p.m. Friday in the 700 block of Fletcher Avenue. Greg Bryant, 44, was found shot to death in his back yard.

At 1:40 a.m. Saturday, police were called to the 3500 block of Station Street, where Jack Berry, 16, was found dead in a homeowner's front yard. Billy Isaac Jr., 18, was also badly hurt in that shooting. He was hit in the head and neck. Detectives said an altercation that led to the shootings began earlier at an under-21 club. Police said they believe Reginald Bell, 19, was involved in those shootings. Bell turned himself in to police after seeing reports on TV.

At about 3 a.m., Frederick Meeks, 27, was critically injured when he was shot in the chest in the 2300 block of New Jersey Street.

Also at about 3 a.m., Maurice White, 26, was found shot to death in his car in an alley behind The Vault nightclub. Detectives said he had just left the club. Police are looking for Corey Andrews, 21, in connection with that shooting. White was recently acquitted of a murder charge.

At about 3:30 a.m., four more people who were also at The Vault were shot. Two of them, Antonio Jones, 23, and Richard Taylor, 18, were killed at a Marathon gas station on Delaware Street. Two other men also were injured, police said. Investigators are looking for Cortez Cunningham in connection with those shootings.

A man was killed in a shooting Saturday night near 56th Street and Georgetown Road. Two other men were injured in shootings in that incident.

"We're going to do everything we can to peacefully intervene to make sure those types of crimes don't occur," Spears said.

City leaders said they don't yet have a long-term solution to the crime problem, but said the moves they are making will meet emergency needs.


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