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IMPD: 29% of homicides motivated by drugs

Posted at 6:18 PM, Dec 15, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-15 18:18:48-05

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis police released data Tuesday about crime in what has become one of the city's deadliest years on record.

Police said their in-house records indicate 29 percent of the 141 murders this year were motivated by drugs. Ten of those victims were under the age of 18 years old – and 12 suspects were under 18.

One of those young victims was 10-year-old Deshaun Swanson, who was killed in a drive-by shooting on Oct. 20.

"I get angry to see other cases being solved and the effort put forward from their community," Swanson's mother, Shannon Swanson, said. "No one is stepping forward for my baby. This is a 10-year-old. If you don't do it for no one else, do it for the babies."

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Police say 81 percent of this year's murder victims had criminal histories, accounting for a total of 459 felony arrests. Of the 94 murder suspects, 85 percent had criminal histories.

Public Safety Director David Wantz says there is no quick fix to stopping the killings.

"Looking to the police to solve the homicides is like blaming your lawn mower for dandelions," he said. "You can cut the grass, go inside, drink ice tea, come back in a week, and look, the dandelions are back. Until you change the systemic problems that are causing the dandelions to grow, you are not going to change it."

Click the map below to see where murders have happened near you:

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