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Man dies, another hurt in afternoon shooting in residential area on east side

UPDATE: The man who died following a Tuesday shooting on the city’s east side has been identified as 27-year-old Leland Jones, the Marion County Coroner’s Office said Wednesday. His death has been ruled a homicide.

IMPD says the man who arrived at the hospital with gunshot wounds was connected to Jones’ fatal shooting on Leland Ave. Detectives believe they have identified the primary suspects in the shooting and are looking into the possibility that it was self-defense. The investigation is ongoing and detectives continue to review witness statements, video, and other evidence.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A man has died and another man was in the hospital after a Tuesday afternoon shooting in a residential neighborhood on the city’s east side, Indianapolis police say.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department went to a call of shots fired at 5:35 p.m. Tuesday in the 3500 block of North Leland Avenue. That’s southwest of Emerson Avenue and East 38th Street.

IMPD Commander Kerry Buckner said officers arrived to find firearm shells in the street, and then found the man dead in the front yard of a home. He’s not yet been identified.

A short time later, a man walked into Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital with gunshot wounds. That man told police he’d been robbed on Leland Avenue. He was stable on Tuesday night at the hospital.

Buckner said, “Of course, you know, the stories change every time somebody tells it, but we don’t know exactly what happened. He’s indicating it was a self-defense, but, of course, the homicide investigators are here. They’ll investigate it, start talking to neighbors, try to find any videocamera footage, and try to piece things together. The crime lab is doing the scene at this point. We’re still looking for a vehicle possibly involved.”

A car at the crime scene had flat tires, but Buckner said it wasn’t known if the vehicle was a part of the shooting or just damaged by gunfire. “But there was obviously auto glass from a different vehicle that was on the ground. So, that’s how they knew there was a second vehicle. The witnesses said they saw a male run and get into a different vehicle. I think it’s a black-color SUV. I don’t have an exact description of that at this point. So, we’ve got the other male involved, we’re just looking for the vehicle because it’s part of the crime scene.”

“So, we have what we believe both parties, but we’re still trying to get the stories straight at this point,” the IMPD commander added. “Obviously on these kind of things, we ask for the public’s help.”

Buckner said, “Anything they may see they may think is insignificant, but sometimes it just takes a little nudge to get the detectives going in the right direction. So, like I say, we don’t discount any tips that we get. Sometimes we get hundreds, and sometimes we get a few. We’ll take anything we can get.”

Anyone with information was asked to contact Det. Brian Lambert by email or by calling the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475.

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