INDIANAPOLIS — A toddler was injured in a shooting incident on the near southwest side of Indianapolis Tuesday evening.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, officers were called to the 2600 South Belmont Avenue on a report of a person shot. While enroute to the area, police received an additional call indicating they should instead respond to the intersection of South Harding Street and West Morris Street.
When police arrived at the scene, they located a male toddler with injuries consistent with gunshot wounds. IMPD reported that the juvenile was transported from the scene to a local hospital in critical condition. No additional updates on the child’s status have been made available.
After a preliminary investigation, IMPD determined that the shooting may have happened inside a vehicle. Police also indicated the injuries the juvenile sustained may have been self-inflicted, though detectives are still working to confirm that information.
“We can’t stress enough that firearms in the hands of children with no supervised adults is devastating,” IMPD Officer Drew Brown said during a media briefing. “We are going to be working hard to try to determine what led up to this. This is a difficult type of incident for our officers to respond to. They have families of their own who they left when they started their shift, we have officers who are going to be on their way in who have families at home waiting for them. Any tragedy like this involving a child is devastating.”
The Indianapolis-Marion County Forensic Services Agency and the Indiana Department of Child Services also responded to the scene to investigate the incident.
IMPD reported that detectives believe all the individuals involved in the incident have been accounted for. Police indicated the shooting does not pose an ongoing threat to the community.
IMPD is asking those with information on the incident to contact detectives at (317) 327-3475. Alternatively, tipsters can contact Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at (317) 262-8477.
Three young children have sustained accidental or possibly self-inflicted gunshot wounds in Indianapolis over the last two weeks.
On August 18, a 4-year-old boy was injured in a shooting in the 3600 block of North Dearborn Street. The boy, who was later identified as Corione Monte Butts Jr., subsequently died. Less than 24 hours later, a 5-year-old was suffered gunshot wounds in the 4500 block of Golden Meadow Drive around 11:15 p.m. The child — Jayden Ewing — later died.
On Monday, a 3-year-old was killed in a shooting in the 7400 block of North Shadeland Avenue. Another juvenile was also shot during an attempted robbery near 38th Street and Moller Road earlier this month.
As of this article’s publication, no additional information on Tuesday’s shooting had been made available.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
