Michael Anthony Adams

michael.adams@indystar.com

A man is dead after being shot in the stomach on the city's Near Westside, said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's Lt. Chris Bailey.

Officers were dispatched to the 1000 block of North Traub around 3 p.m. Wednesday after an IPS bus driver called and said he heard a shot and then saw a man run out of a house in that area, holding his stomach, said police.

Shortly after, police said they received another run to the 1100 block of North Elder, one block away from the original call, on reports of two people shot. One of the victims, who was shot in the leg, was inside a silver Toyota Camry in the alley behind the yard of an abandoned home. The other victim was in the yard, lying face up. EMS personnel pronounced him dead on the scene.

Police believe the person shot on Traub was the male found in the backyard in the 1100 block of North Elder. The other gunshot victim was wounded in the leg, but police said the person was awake and breathing on the way to Eskenazi Hospital.

"He was my sister's baby," said Karla Rodriguez, the dead victim's aunt, who was at the scene. "Everybody loved him. He was always the life of the party."

More than a hundred people crowded the fences that stood between them and the victim's body. When detectives attempted to question a woman who claimed to be the victim's sister, she screamed, "I don't got no statement. Bring my brother back."

"He was a really good kid," said Stacey Luckett, a woman who said she was a cousin of the victim. "He wasn't the type to get into drugs or anything like that."

Luckett also told The Star that the victim's father was shot and killed in 2008, however, until police release the victim's identity, her story cannot be confirmed.

Just before 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, a patrolman called out over a loud speaker for anyone in the North Traub home where police were originally dispatched to come out with their hands up. Not having received a response, a group of officers broke open the door to the house with a battering ram.

Police have yet to comment on what, or who, they found in the house.

"I live a couple blocks from here," said Olgen Williams, the deputy mayor for neighborhoods in Indianapolis. Williams, who had just left a community meeting that was held to discuss this part of town, arrived on the scene as family members began to gather and mourn.

"I've been in these alleys too many times, and I've seen too many of these young men lose their lives," said Williams. "The mother's broken up. The grandmother's broken up. I'm broken up."

Police said a third person suffering from a gunshot wound was dropped off at Eskenazi Hospital following the North Traub incident. Investigators are unsure whether the two shootings are related.

This story will be updated.

Call Star reporter Michael Anthony Adams at (317) 444-6123. Follow him on Twitter: @MichaelAdams317.