UPDATE: The teenager shot and killed Friday in the parking lot of a K-12 school and a Christian center was identified by the Marion County Coroner’s Office as 15-year-old Devin Gilbert III.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A teen student died after a shooting Friday afternoon in the parking lot of a K-12 school and a Christian center, police and the school say.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said in a Friday night news release that it’s arrested a 15-year-old boy for the crime. The boy was not named.

“This arrest occurred thanks to the cooperation of community members and the quick response from officers,” the Friday night release said.

IMPD was sent to a report of a person shot just before 12:54 p.m. Friday at 2259 Ralston Ave. That’s the address of Edna Martin Christian Center. Adjacent to the center are KIPP Indy Legacy School, 2255 Ralston Ave., and its Leadership and Legacy Campus.

Initial reports from police at the scene said two students were involved in the Friday afternoon shooting that left a teenage male in critical condition. Later, Lt. Shane Foley of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said in the first of two impromptu news conferences at the scene that IMPD could not confirm that the shooting at the “Leadership and Legacy Center” involved students.

Later, in the second news conference, Foley said a teen male had died after being taken to a hospital, and he would be identified by the Marion County Coroner’s Office. IMPD shared no other information about the teen fatally shot.

The school about 4:50 p.m. Friday announced on social media that the teen fatally shot was a high school student who was walking home when he was shot at 23rd Street and Ralston Avenue at the north end of the Leadership and Legacy Campus parking lot. No information about the student fatally shot was provided in the social media post.

Foley and the school’s social media post say the suspected shooter, who was been detained, was not a student at the KIPP school. Police say the suspect was found with a gun about a half-mile from the shooting scene and arrested without incident.

The IMPD lieutenant says a disturbance happened in the school prior to the shooting, but investigators cannot yet connect the disturbance to the shooting.

Foley said the “tragic” shooting was believed to have been a targeted incident.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said in a Friday afternoon statement about the shooting that it involved “the horrific combination of access to firearms and a failure of conflict resolution.”

The Democrat mayor, who faces a reelection challenge from a Republican challenger in Tuesday’s election, also thanked witnesses who came forward to give information to police investigators.

IMPD’s Friday night news release said that witnesses “provided officers with a description of a possible suspect and additional members of the community provided officers with information on the suspect’s location.”

IMPD North District Commander Matt Thomas said to reporters near the shooting scene, “I’m frustrated. This is absolutely unacceptable. It’s unacceptable that in the community, we’ve had conversations about youth violence all week, and this is how our week ends.”

After the shooting, crime-scene tape had cordoned off the parking lot outside the facilities on Ralston Avenue, which had closed for the initial investigation. The facilities sit a few blocks west of the I-70 interchange for Keystone Avenue and Rural Street on the near east side of the city.

The KIPP Indy Public Schools website says the district has an elementary, a middle school and high school with more than 1,500 students. According to the Indiana Department of Education, the KIPP Indy Legacy High school had 260 students in the Grades 9-12 in the 2020-2021 school year, the latest date for which the state has posted information on schools.

The school canceled evening events. Parents were informed of the shooting through an app limited to the school community, Foley said.

Parents told News 8 that they only were informed via emails and texts that an incident happened, not a shooting.

School will resume Monday with “on-site supports,” the district’s social media post said.

Anyone with information about this shooting was asked to call IMPD Detective Larry Craciunoiu at 317-327-3475 or e-mail him at larry.craciunoiu@indy.gov.

News 8’s Camila Fernandez and Kyle Fisher contributed to this report.

Statements

“Early this afternoon, an incident involving gun violence occurred at 23rd and Ralston Avenue at the north end of the Leadership and Legacy Campus parking lot that involved one of our Legacy High students who was walking home. After being rushed to the hospital to receive medical care, our student sadly passed away. We are in ongoing communication with the student’s family, and will continue to offer support during this extremely difficult time. On Monday, we will have on-site supports available for students and staff as our school community processes this tragedy.

“The suspect is not a KIPP Indy student and is currently in custody. IMPD responded immediately and will continue to complete their investigation. There is no ongoing threat to those nearby or to anyone living in the surrounding area. Our KIPP Indy campuses executed our secure campus protocol with excellence and ensured the security of our school buildings and community. The safety of our entire school community will always be our top priority.”

KIPP Indy Public Schools at 4:50 p.m. Nov. 3, 2023, on Facebook

“This afternoon’s shooting of an Indianapolis teen is another example of the horrific combination of access to firearms and a failure of conflict resolution. No young person should have to worry about gun violence, let alone near a school.

“Thank you to the witnesses who came forward to share information with IMPD so they could bring the suspect into custody and help bring justice to all involved.”

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, a Democrat