IMPD urges common sense gun safety after shots fired on New Year’s Eve
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is urging common sense gun safety after Javion Williams fired celebratory shots in the air on New Year’s Eve.
The department is asking everyone to stop endangering their own community by illegally firing a gun in the air and instead find a safer way to celebrate.
No one was injured in this incident but officers highlighted it because they have seen more instances of reckless gun practices that put everyone in the community at risk.
Officer Elizabeth Flatter, an IMPD public information officer, said, “When you fire your gun off into the air, basic physics says what goes up must come down.”
She said bullets pick up so much speed on the way back down that people can be injured or killed. She said it is good no one was hurt in this case.
“In that particular community, there are a lot of children that live in that apartment complex and what we don’t want to have happen is a celebration turn into a tragedy when a child is struck when that bullet came back down,” Flatter said.
This post on the IMPD Facebook page picked up a lot of traction with commenters calling out the apparent guns shot heard on this holiday. An account called “Sharon N Rick” said, “That is so dangerous! How can people think it is ok to fire a weapon not knowing where the projectile will come down!?!?”
Angie Carver said, “Our area used to be silent at midnight on NYE years ago. Not now. I don’t mind a few fireworks, but the gunfire is getting crazy.”
“As someone who has a firearm, handle it responsibly. Don’t fire it into the air,” IMPD’s Flatter said. “Store it responsibly and safely keeping them away from children.”
IMPD is also seeing other reckless behaviors when it comes to firearms; those include improper car storage.
“The safest place to store it is in a locked trunk that way it is put away and if you, for example, send your children out to your car to retrieve something they can not accidentally stumble on it,” Flatter said.
The officer says children getting a hold of firearms is happening too frequently in homes or cars and safe storage steps need to be taken.
