With high-profile sporting events expected to draw thousands of visitors next month, civic promoters want to assure visitors and residents that downtown Indianapolis is safe after a fatal shooting at a parking garage.

Downtown Indy Inc. has deployed more off-duty officers on bicycle and foot downtown and has scheduled a series of meetings with businesses, city-county councilors, police and building managers to discuss safety.

"Our goal is to address the perception of safety with a physical and visible presence,” said Bob Schultz, senior vice president of marketing and communications for Downtown Indy.

The public-private non-profit hires off-duty Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers to supplement regular IMPD patrols downtown. The officers work mostly during big events but are being used now to send the message that downtown is safe.

Four to eight officers work on a “street level,” Schultz said, hearing out concerns from business owners, visitors and residents. "They are another layer of safety augmenting police," he said.

An IMPD official said the department does not plan to increase its patrols.

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Downtown Indy's action comes as the city prepares to host the Big 10 men's basketball tournament March 11-15 and the NCAA Midwest Regional March 26-28.

On Thursday afternoon, a 26-year-old man was found shot in a garage attached to Circle Centre mall off West Maryland Street. The victim, Marquis Lovett, died at an area hospital.

No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting, but police are seeking an unidentified man captured on video surveillance footage who they believe was with the victim. The man is not considered a suspect, IMPD public information officer Aaron Hamer said.

Though more than 150,000 people work downtown and tens of millions more visit each year, IMPD’s Downtown District has the fewest number of crimes of any of the department’s six districts, data shows.

Last year there was one homicide downtown, and in 2018 there were two. The district accounted for 5.3% of the city’s major crimes in 2018, according to IMPD’s 2018 annual report, the most recent available.

Schultz said that because serious crime is relatively rare downtown, it's magnified when incidents occur and that it's important the city project a safe environment.

“We need to show we are taking concrete steps when things occur,” Schultz said. “There is always some big event just around the corner.”

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Schultz said Downtown Indy will discuss crime with lawmakers, police and businesses in meetings within the next few weeks.

That includes a meeting with the Building Owners and Managers Association and the three city-county councilors whose districts include parts of downtown: Vop Osili, Zach Adamson and Kristin Jones.

Among the topics discussed will be violence by unaccompanied teenagers, a sporadic but visible occurrence at the mall and elsewhere downtown.

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317-444-6418. Email at john.tuohy@indystar.com and follow on Twitter and Facebook.