Two men were shot and killed in a vehicle on the east side late Wednesday, making official what has been dreaded for months: 2018 is now Indianapolis' deadliest year.

The two men were identified by the Marion County Coroner’s Office as 25-year old Johnny Coleman and Charles Lemon, also 25, who both died from multiple gunshot wounds. They were found unresponsive by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police shortly before midnight in a vehicle in the 3100 block of North Riley Avenue, a neighborhood near Emerson Avenue and East 32nd Street.

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The Toll:Indianapolis is enduring years of growing violence. The Toll explores why.

The deaths set a record 156 criminal homicide cases investigated by IMPD this year, according to an IndyStar analysis of IMPD homicide data. The total does not include killings made in self-defense, police action shootings or accidental homicides. Homicides in other parts of Marion County, such as in Lawrence or Cumberland, also are not included.

"The truth is that too many neighborhoods still exist where residents feel unsafe. In too many homes, families grieve loved ones taken too soon by gun violence," Mayor Joe Hogsett said this week. "As we count the number of homicides, one thing remains certain: for victims, for their families and for the neighborhoods tormented by this violence, any number above zero is too high."

This year continues a particularly bloody stretch in Indianapolis. Each year since 2011, annual criminal homicide numbers have grown — reaching record highs in each of the last four years.

THE DEATH TOLL IN 2018

In 2018, just as in years past, death after death came as a shock to the community.

The body of Trevon Mann, 19, was found January 18 discarded inside a vacant townhouse near E. 42nd Street and N. Post Road. He was one of three victims found in the Towne and Terrace complex this year.

Malaysia Robson, just 1, killed March 29 after someone fired a rifle into the side of her home. Police arrested two men, ages 27 and 29, who police said were engaged in an ongoing feud on social media.

Sheriff Jallow, 50, was shot in the back multiple times while working at an east-side gas station May 29. He had immigrated to the U.S. from West Africa and was killed by a man with a grudge, court records say.

Three weeks after his graduation from high school, 19-year-old Trevon Bonds, a Lawrence North running back, was gunned down June 26 in a west-side apartment complex. His case is unsolved.

Drug robberies that turn deadly. Family members fighting and dying over money. Girlfriends gruesomely killed. Violence reached across the city like a flood, swallowing victims young and old.

"I’m frustrated that we haven’t done a better job in this city of addressing this problem," said Rev. Charles Harrison, pastor of Barnes United Methodist Church and co-founder of the Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition. "I just feel like not enough people care about this issue. Until enough people care about it — and we put our resources and energy toward fixing it — it’s going to continue being a lingering issue in this city."

Three of the record years have come during the administration of Hogsett, a former federal prosecutor who in 2015 said Indianapolis was enduring a "public safety crisis" and vowed to clean up the streets.

Picking up on that theme, the Marion County Republican Party released a statement Thursday critical of Hogsett, a Democrat: "The 'Public Safety Mayor' hasn't made us safer. Too many lives lost, too many futures that will never be realized. Public safety isn't a campaign pledge, it has to be a promise."

MAYOR HOGSETT'S CRIME-FIGHTING

Hogsett's proposed solutions to violence can be found in the city's public safety spending, which ballooned by more than $62 million compared to his predecessor's last budget.

He's added $1.5 million to crime prevention grants, invested more than $2 million into technology improvements at IMPD and created a $300,000 witness protection program. And, following up on a campaign promise, he's budgeted an additional $13.4 million to beef up staffing at IMPD.

Speaking at the John H. Boner Center this week, Hogsett cited preliminary crime data from 2018 as proof to stay the course.

“For all of these efforts, for all of these investments, we have seen progress this year," Hogsett told the crowd of police officers, reporters and community members. "Robberies down 15 percent. Residential burglaries down almost 14 percent. Overall violent crime down nearly 8 percent."

Hogsett, though, noted the city cannot celebrate because there's still more work to do.

And IMPD Chief Bryan Roach, who spoke following Hogsett, plainly summarized what's on the community's mind: "We always get judged on homicides."

Beyond the homicide problem, though, the city still appears to be struggling in several areas of violence. Crime data from 2016 and 2017 — the most recent years in which such data is publicly accessible — paint a challenging picture.

While violent crime dropped by 2 percent in 2017, total violent crime numbers remained higher than 2013-2015.

Aggravated assaults, largely consisting of non-fatal shootings, grew by 200 incidents in 2017.

And compared to 2014 — the last year before Indy reached its stretch of record bloodshed — aggravated assaults in 2017 were up 17 percent.

FOCUSING ON GUN VIOLENCE

In response, IMPD has ramped up its partnerships with other law enforcement and prosecutors to hone in on illegal gun use, which is responsible for more than 80 percent of all criminal homicides in Indianapolis.

IMPD arrests have led to 150 federal gun cases through November, IMPD Deputy Chief Chris Bailey said this week. That's more than double last year's amount — a result of a strategy employed by U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler to also focus on illegal gun use.

Another 1,575 gun cases have been filed by the Marion County prosecutor's office, Bailey said.

And IMPD recovered more than 3,200 guns and sought to suspend 225 handgun permits through November, Bailey said.

IMPD plans to broaden its gun strategy in 2019 by restructuring part of its investigations division and hiring crime analysts to work in a newly-launched Crime Gun Intelligence Center, which also has the backing of Minkler and federal funding. They'll work with the local crime lab and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to quickly analyze guns and spent casings recovered from crime scenes. That analysis will allow investigators to connect a single gun — or even a single shooter — to multiple shootings.

Roach, who has noted there's a dangerous difference between a drug dealer and a drug dealer who carries a gun — said IMPD will prioritize the so-called serial shooters.

"This isn’t the sweeps of the past where we’re going and locking everyone up," Roach said.

As for the double homicide Wednesday night, the victims have not yet been identified by the Marion County coroner's office. A police report notes that both men were 25.

IMPD gave no information on a possible suspect. There have been no arrests and the investigation continues.

Contact IndyStar reporter Ryan Martin at 317-444-6294 or ryan.martin@indystar.com. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter: @ryanmartin

Call IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert at 317-444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @VicRyc