A different kind of grief: Funeral home worker’s son killed
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A man whose son died in a fatal shooting Saturday says he grieves death daily working at a funeral home, but this gun violence was a first in his family.
Police were called to the intersection of 24th and Sheldon streets — that’s between Dr. Andrew J Brown and Ralston avenues on the near east side — around 3:12 p.m. on a report of a person shot.
The man shot at that scene was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital in critical condition, Officer Aaron Hamer with Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department confirmed. The victim later died.
At the scene was Byron Davenport. He said he got a call from a friend at the Indianapolis Fire Department to head to the scene right away, because Davenport’s son had been shot four times.
“I look at his clothes and his shoes on the ground over there, and it just makes me feel sad to know that everything he had on his body is now laying on that ground over there,” he said.
He said IMPD told him first responders performed CPR on his son, also named Byron, as he was rushed to IU Health Methodist Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
IMPD had not confirmed the victim’s name on Saturday night, saying the Marion County Coroner’s Office would handle that.
Davenport said the next step is burying his son, a task with which he’s familiar. Davenport works at Williams and Bluitt Funeral Home in Indianapolis.
“Dealing with death every day like I do, every single day I’m crying,” he said. “I’m crying inside.”
He said this is the first time he’s dealing with a gun violence death so close to home. And he’s not alone. He said his funeral home has seen a huge spike in homicide victims.
“I constantly grieve when I’m pushing a 15-, 16-, 17-year-old’s casket due to gun violence,” he said.
And this next week, that grief will become far more personal.
While that was the only deadly shooting on Saturday, IMPD was busy handling violence in broad daylight.
Just before 4 p.m. on the city’s northwest side, officers responded to a person shot run at a Speedway Gas Station located at the intersection of West 38th Street and Georgetown Road.
A man was in critical condition and a second person suffered minor injuries at shooting scene police reportedly compared to “a Wild West show.” Officers at the scene said the shooting was targeted, and three firearms were used. On Saturday afternoon, they were still counting shell casings.
Police responded to a third shooting at the KFC at 71st Street and Michigan Road around 5:45 p.m., where a woman had been shot after an argument, an IMPD officer told 24-Hour News 8 at the scene. That woman was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The suspect fled from the scene.
All three investigations are ongoing. IMPD has not announced any arrests. If you have any information, call 317-262-TIPS.
