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‘This makes no sense’: 4 children in Indianapolis killed by gun violence in 2021

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Randal Taylor was emotional Thursday as he talked about children who have been victims of gun violence in Indianapolis during 2021, just as a 12-year-old boy was on life support after an early morning shooting.

“This makes no sense, to be honest. A 12-year-old just hanging out with family ends up getting shot,” Taylor said in a Thursday news conference.

Just 16 months into the job of chief, Taylor talked about the number of young children killed by gunfire in the city: four since the beginning of 2021.

On March 13, 7-year-old Eve Moore was one of four people shot and killed in a house on Randolph Street.

Investigators say the gunfire followed an argument over splitting a stimulus check. Prosecutors may seek the death penalty against the suspect, 25-year-old Malik Halfacre.

That same month, 14-year-old Ke’Sean Jones was shot to death near 34th Street and Forest Manor Avenue. Police initially believed the boy’s death was self-inflicted but now call it a homicide. A 15-year-old faces charges of reckless homicide.

And on Jan. 24, a mass shooting in a home on Adams Street left six dead, including 13-year-old Rita Childs and the unborn child of Kiara Hawkins.

Prosecutors say the shooting followed a family argument about a 17-year-old staying out too late. He’s now charged with six counts of murder.

Taylor recalled the case of Rodgerick Payne Jr., unsolved for more than a year now. The 8-year-old boy was inside the family’s home on Tacoma Avenue on March 31, 2020, when a bullet ripped through the walls in the middle of the night, leaving the boy dead.

Taylor also said he can’t imagine anyone believes what’s happening in the streets right now is OK, because it’s not.

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