INDIANAPOLIS - Authorities in Indiana are investigating after six people were killed in a shooting and a seventh person was hurt in Indianapolis early Sunday. Among those dead include a woman and her unborn baby, police said at a news conference.
"What happened this morning was not an act of simple gun violence, as tragic as a simple act of gun violence is. What happened this morning was a mass murder," Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said as he stood alongside the city’s police chief. "All the evidence gathered so far is this was nothing short of a mass murder."
Police were called around 4 a.m. and found a boy who had been shot. He was rushed to the hospital and police said Sunday he is expected to survive. His age was not given.
Police were then led about two blocks away to a home on Adams Street where five people were found shot to death. Police said one of the victims was a pregnant woman, who was rushed to the hospital where her unborn baby was also pronounced dead.
"I myself am heartbroken for the lives that have been taken too soon, for the young life that forever has been changed and for the young life that never got a chance to start, for the neighborhood to pick up the pieces in the wake of unprecedented violence and for all of the family and friends who have been robbed by grief," Chief Taylor said.
"When it is a crime of passion or retaliation, that is one thing. It is a completely different thing for a trigger puller or perhaps several trigger pullers to walk into one home and kill six people. And that is why we are here today," Hogsett said.
Chief Taylor said at this time police believe the family was targeted, though he did not yet give a possible motive.
Police weren’t sure yet of a suspect and said it’s also possible there could have been multiple shooters.
Police did not give any additional information about the victims.