3 people wounded after downtown canal shooting
INDIANAPOLIS — Three people are recovering after being shot and wounded along the canal in downtown Indianapolis.
According to IMPD, officers responded to a shooting around midnight at 430 Indiana Ave.
A series of gunshots along the canal left three people hurt and others ducking for cover.
“All I heard was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I grabbed the kids and threw them on the ground,” said Antonio Bledsoe.
Antonio Bledsoe said his pregnant fiancée was hospitalized after being shot in the ankle.
He insists his family wasn’t in a dispute with anyone and doesn’t think they were the intended targets. The family came to canal after watching the downtown fireworks show and had been walking back to their car when the shooting started.
“I ain’t got beef with nobody. I don’t know what was going on. I just heard gunshots and she was shot,” said Bledsoe.
“I thought, here we go again. Another Fourth of July holiday and somebody else is getting shot,” said Kelly Green.
The shooting felt like déjà vu for Kelly Green because on the morning of July 5th 2020, exactly three years ago, his granddaughter Jessica Doty Whitaker was killed after exchanging words with strangers on the canal.
“It’s been rough. It’s been rough on my family,” said Green.
Whitaker left behind a young boy who is now 6 years old and has had to grow up without his mother.
Family provided picture of Jessica Doty Whitaker
IMPD released a series of surveillance pictures and even a video of multiple people walking along the canal who they believe may have been connected to the 2020 homicide, but three years later the case remains unsolved.
“We’re resigned to the fate that it’ll probably never happen. It’ll be a cold case,” said Green.
Surveillance picture of 2020 homicide persons of interest
“The city is putting it’s best foot forward to keep this area safe,” said IMPD Sgt. Genae Cook.
The non-fatal shooting overnight took place just a few feet away from one of the city’s public safety cameras. That technology is a key part of the city’s efforts to keep the canal as safe as possible.
In fact, the cameras allowed police to respond to the scene before they even got their first 911 call.
Over the last three years, the city made safety along the canal a priority.
As recently as April of this year the city announced it was adding more public safety cameras, improving lighting and continuing overtime bike patrols along the canal.
Prior to last night’s violence, police said those efforts have proven successful.
“This is the first incident this year involving a shooting on the canal and that’s how we want to keep it,” said Cook.
Police said they do have good leads on the suspects in the overnight shooting, but so far no arrests have been made.
Anyone with information on the unsolved 2020 homicide can still contact Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS.
Source: FOX 59 Indianapolis
