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1-year-old shot and killed in targeted attack on Indy's northeast side

Posted at 5:36 AM, Mar 29, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-29 22:55:04-04

INDIANAPOLIS -- A 1-year-old girl was shot and killed Thursday morning in what police are calling a targeted attack on Indianapolis' northeast side. 

The shooting happened just before 2 a.m., at a house in the 3500 block of Wittfield Street.

Police say it started with a fight that began on social media and escalated to the point where the suspect got out of a car and sprayed the front of the home with bullets. 

1-year-old Malaysia Robeson was killed and her 19-year-old aunt Anna Fox was shot in the shoulder.

Police say eight to 10 people were inside the home at the time, the majority of which were teenagers.

"Now I got to start watching my little brother and my little sister when they're outside. It's crazy. I don't know if it's like people that they have something to prove but I don't know what's happening to Indiana. I don't know," said Carl Price, neighbor.

Malaysia's grandmother says the little girl died a senseless death.

 

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Bryan Roach said the shooting was part of an ongoing dispute between people who "have a relationship with each other." 

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett condemned "a deafening silence" in the community following the shooting. "We must make it clear that we do not solve our differences in Indianapolis with guns. We must have the courage to speak to each other, to a pastor, to a police officer. We must have the conviction," said Hogsett.

You can watch that complete press conference below:

 

When discussing the shooting, IMPD Sgt. Chris Wilburn described going to a gym and picking up a weight that is between 17 and 22 pounds -- something light enough to hold in one hand. That's how much Malaysia weighed.

"Our children are the most vulnerable in our society," he said. "They will not be targeted and they will not be victimized by an architect of violence in this community. We will not accept it."

Wilburn was emotional as he discussed the shooting and made an appeal for people to come forward with information so police can make an arrest.

 

The Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition typically doesn't cover the part of town where the deadly shooting took place, but they said they saw a need and came to help.

Malaysia Robeson is the youngest victim of a fatal shooting in Indianapolis since 2013. Her death was also the only under 10 shooting victim during that period to be ruled a criminal homicide. The other deaths were determined to be accidental.

MAP | 2018 Indianapolis homicides

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