Shootings leave 5 dead in Indianapolis in 40-hour period

INDIANAPOLIS — A young man on his usual morning walk early Tuesday morning was attacked, shot and left bleeding from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

Nathan Trapuzzano, 24, collapsed in the front parking lot of Tron Tire Shop on the 3500 block of W. 16th St. and died at Eskenazi Hospital soon after. 

It was another murder in an already busy year. In a 40-hour period starting Sunday, five people were shot and killed in Indianapolis.

By 9 a.m., tire shop worker Gerareo Barraza was covering the dried blood with gravel and bits of dirt.

“Cars will park here on it,” he said. Only small rust-colored patches in the gravel hinted at the chaos of  hours earlier. “We preferred to cover it. It’s just respect.”

Police are still investigating Tuesday’s shooting, as well as two shootings Sunday that killed four people. The particularly bloody weekend in Indianapolis was the most active period since eight people were shot and killed Feb. 20 through 21.

As of March 29, there were 33 criminal homicides, an increase of 10 percent from the same point last year, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

The recent violence brings this year’s total to at least 38. All build on 2013, the city’s most active year for criminal homicides since 2006.

“We have seen a recent uptick in homicides that is not easily explained,” IMPD Sergeant Kendale Adams said in an email. “There are a number of factors that contribute to our recent uptick. Some obvious and some not so obvious.”

The shootings come after a number of efforts in March to address violence in the city.

A multi-organization initiative to reduce black-on-black crime, “Your Life Matters,” was announced in mid-March by city leaders. On March 20, the mayor led a meeting at the Indianapolis Central Library to engage community members in tackling the problems that lead to violence. Just last week, community groups released their Citywide Crime Prevention and Reduction Plan, a nearly eight-month effort that lays out a blueprint for reducing crime.

Reverend Charles Ellis of the Ten Point Coalition, a faith-based organization seeking to reduce violence in and around Indianapolis, said the recent homicides are cause for concern, he said context is important.

“You’d say, ‘Oh my gosh. What’s going on?’” he said of the cluster of murders. “But you have to look at it with a little bit of balance. There is an ebb and a flow.”

The recent cluster of violence started with a series of non-fatal shootings beginning late Saturday night and into early Sunday morning.

Then, Sunday afternoon, in a strip mall on the city’s east side, a shoplifting at a clothing store turned violent, claiming the life of Ho Shin Lee, 36, of Noblesville, Ind.

Lee was shot in the head and later died at Eskenazi Hospital during surgery.

Detectives believe he was not a regular employee of the Body Gear store at 2816 E. 38 St. but was a family friend helping out the owners that day. Lee was shot, witnesses told police, when he attempted to stop a number of suspects from stealing.

Diamond Slaughter, 19, of Indianapolis suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. She was taken to the hospital in good condition.

Deaundre Graves, 18, and a 17-year-old boy have since been arrested following the Body Gear shooting. Investigators are still looking for other suspects that entered the store with Graves and the 17-year-old, Adams said. 

Later that day, about 11:30 p.m., police found one man with gunshot wounds outside a far eastside apartment complex on the 9500 block of Shoreland Court. They also found another man and a woman, both with gunshot wounds, in an apartment. James Czajkowski, 59, Stephen Herold, 58, and Martha Zuluaga, 53, were pronounced dead on the scene.

Adams said drug paraphernalia was found inside the apartment.

“There’s probably a nexus between the drugs and the victims and the suspect,” he said Tuesday evening.

With no suspect in custody, the triple killing investigation continues.

Like other big cities, Ellis said, Indianapolis has work to do.

“I think what we have to do is not look at homicide as a daily running scoresheet,” the reverend said. “We need to look at the people and figure out how to get them out of that life.”

In the most recent murder, the death of Nathan Trapuzzano, police are asking for the community’s help in catching two suspects.

The first forced the victim in between two businesses while the other served as a lookout, according to police. The first suspect struggled with the victim before Trapuzzano was shot, after which the suspects fled in different directions.

Barraza said he hears gunfire in the community every so often. But when the dead body arrived in front of his workplace Tuesday morning, it caught him off guard.

At about noon, Barbara Avila walked past the tire shop. She was getting off her shift at the McDonald’s just blocks away.

“This used to be a nice neighborhood,” Aviles said shaking her head. “But then, I don’t know what happened.”

An eight-year resident of the area, Aviles said violence in her neighborhood has seemed worse in recent months. She doesn’t see a clear reason behind the violence, she said.

“It just gets worse and worse.”