Indianapolis was already facing an increasing homicide rate when a gunman killed eight at a FedEx facility

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The murders mark America’s latest mass shooting – a disturbing rerun that has seen at least 45 such tragedies in the US since March 16, when eight people were killed in three Atlanta spas.

It was also the third mass shooting in Indianapolis in the first four months of the year.

CNN defines a mass shooting as a shooting incident that results in four or more victims (dead or injured), excluding the shooter or gunmen.

Now the city is reeling from the FedEx shooting, which claimed more lives than in the January shooting.

“I have not seen this capacity in terms of the number of mass shootings with fatalities in a short period of time,” Alfarena McGinty, chief deputy coroner for Marion County, said at a news conference Friday. “It’s very troubling for our entire community.”

Police believe the suspect in the FedEx shooting, identified as former FedEx employee Brandon Hole, 19, committed suicide when officers met him. The motive for the shooting was not immediately known.

Police ID gunman who murdered 8 people in an Indianapolis FedEx facility as a 19-year-old ex-employee

“Nothing we learn can heal the wounds of those who escaped with their lives, but who will now bear the scars and bear the memories of this heinous crime,” Mayor Joe Hogsett said at the press conference.

In addition to these three mass shootings, Indianapolis is facing an increasing murder rate.

In 2020, 214 people died from criminal murder in Indianapolis – an increase of nearly 40% from the year before and the city’s highest annual census on record, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

According to IMPD Lieutenant Shane Foley, 69 criminal murders were committed in Indianapolis on Thursday, including the FedEx shooting, a 50% increase from the same period last year.

“I really think it (the FedEx shooting) is a reflection of the kind of behavior we see on the street that leads to so many non-fatal shootings, stabbings and murders that we are now seeing in record time in Indianapolis,” the Pastor said. Charles Harrison, a local pastor and anti-violence activist.

Indianapolis isn’t alone in the rising homicide rate. In metropolitan areas across the country, the homicide rate has increased by nearly 33% between 2019 and 2020, according to data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, a professional organization of police officers representing the largest cities in the US.

In some areas where mass shootings have taken place this year, there has also been an increase in homicides in 2020. In Atlanta, there were 157 homicides last year – an increase of nearly 59% from the year before, according to MCCA data.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, there were 122 murders in 2020 – an 18% increase from the year before, according to MCCA data.

Earlier this month, former NFL player Phillip Adams shot six people in a house in Rock Hill, South Carolina – just across the border from Charlotte. Adams subsequently committed suicide, authorities said.
Hogsett said he signed a letter last week, along with 150 mayors across the country, asking the United States Senate to consider legislation requiring background checks when firearms are transferred between private individuals.

At the local level, he said, “We will make clear to our governor and legislators where I stand on these issues.”

Civic leaders like Harrison are frustrated by the escalating violence.

Harrison said, “If we can’t deal with the daily violence, then we certainly won’t be able to handle the mass shootings, and I see them as interrelated.”

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