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Mayor Joe Hogsett and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department announced Saturday that officials will boost patrols, enforce a curfew, install more cameras and work with the state police to curb violence downtown following an early-morning shooting that left two teens dead.
IMPD Chief Chris Bailey said the department will also seek what he called “stay away orders” meant to keep people who have been charged with violent or disorderly crimes out of downtown.
“We should all be shaken by what occurred,” Bailey said at a Saturday press conference. “We cannot grow numb to the violence in our community—wherever it occurs. And we cannot accept this as normal.”
The moves come as officials grapple with a third shooting in the city’s downtown in just the past two weeks.
On Saturday morning, a few hours after a July 4 fireworks celebration, seven people—including at least three juveniles—were shot near the intersection of South Illinois and West Washington streets. A 16-year-old victim died at the scene; a 15-year-old victim died at a hospital.
On June 23, three people were injured and a 16-year-old was arrested after a shooting on Monument Circle that sent bullets into several buildings, including IBJ’s newsroom. On June 21, three people were injured in a shooting along the Central Canal near Indiana Avenue.
“The violence that happened in our downtown early this morning was absolutely unacceptable,” Hogsett said at the news conference Saturday. “I’ll do whatever I can to make sure we have all the tools necessary to hold people accountable and to keep our city and its downtown safe.”
That includes what the mayor called “active enforcement” of an existing state curfew that prohibits anyone under 15 from being out past 11 p.m. on the weekends and anyone 15-17 from being out past 1 a.m. IMPD had been focused on education rather than enforcement of the curfew, “trying to ensure every parent and guardian takes responsibility for their children in the overnight hours,” Hogsett acknowledged.
“But it is clear we must do more,” he said.
The Indiana State Police have committed to help by adding troopers to the downtown area through the end of summer, Bailey said.
Indiana’s curfew law is in place to help keep young people safe.
IMPD will use every tool at our disposal to enforce it, because our top priority is the preservation of life. Let’s work together to keep our young people safe. pic.twitter.com/5w6Gp6Jk8j
— IMPD (@IMPDnews) July 5, 2025
In addition, Bailey said he has directed IMPD officers and detectives to request stay away orders when they submit probable cause affidavits—which prosecutors use to formalize charges—for anyone accused or arrested for violent crimes, weapons violations, disorderly conduct and repeat offenses. The orders, if granted, would prohibit the defendants from the Mile Square, an area of downtown bordered by South, West, North and East streets.
And the chief said the department will work with its attorneys and the City-County Council to update ordinances related to food vendors and food trucks, which he said “are a constant source of issues, especially after the bars close at 3 a.m.”
Bailey said IMPD is trying to work with the companies that own and manage surface parking lots downtown that have become “problem points” for disorderly conduct, shootings and disorderly behavior.
Indianapolis was not the only city to experience violence late on the Fourth of July and into Saturday morning.
Mass shootings were reported in other cities, including Philadelphia and Chicago and Brockton, Massachusetts, where six people were hospitalized following an early-morning fight on Saturday.
Violence and shootings often surge in the summer months, especially around the Fourth of July, historically one of the deadliest days of the year in the U.S.
The shooting in Chicago, which left seven people in serious or critical condition, came on the heels of another mass shooting that happened late Wednesday in a busy neighborhood known for its restaurants and nightlife. Four people were killed and 14 others injured.
In the New York City borough of Queens, police said one person was dead and three injured following a post-fireworks triple stabbing.
Meanwhile, a Wareham, Massachusetts, man is dead after being hit by a firework. Police said they found 70-year-old Robert Spagnuolo with a “facial injury.” He was pronounced dead at the scene.
In Indianapolis, Hogsett emphasized that violent crime has been “significantly down” since the city began implementing its Gun Violence Reduction Strategy in 2021.
“But on days like today, when we are grieving the loss of two young people, all of these strides we have made a feel hollow, when our city’s young people still have their lives rattled by gun violence,” Hogsett said.
“We know we have more work to do,” he said, “and we will continue to keep working each and every day to identify ways in which we can keep our young people safe.”
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