Holly V. Hays

holly.hays@indystar.com

Update, 8:33 p.m.: Police have identified the victim as 22-year-old Charlese Zinnerman of Indianapolis.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at (317) 262-8477.

Earlier, 7:55 a.m.: One person is in critical condition following a shooting on the city's near-west side Wednesday night.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officers responded to a call of a person shot in the 1100 block of Winfield Avenue just before 10:45 p.m., according to IMPD Deputy Chief of Patrol Valerie Cunningham. When officers arrived to that location, they heard gunshots, a car alarm and a crashing sound not far away.

When they located the car, a black SUV apparently crashed on Belleview Place, they found a woman with an apparent gunshot wound to the head and a young girl. The woman was taken to Eskenazi Hosptial in critical condition, Cunningham said.

The vehicle appeared to be traveling northbound on Belleview when the incident occurred. The SUV may have grazed one other car about a block south, Cunningham said, before coming to a stop when it hit the rear end of a cream-colored car parked on the side of the street.

The passenger side window of the car is busted out, but otherwise the car does not appear to be damaged, she said.

Detectives found some shell casings about a block away, she said, and are working to determine if they are related to this shooting.

Helicopters were up and over the neighborhood not long after the woman was found. Officers conducted several traffic stops in the area, but none seemed to be related.

Cunningham said she saw an outpouring of concern and support as neighbors gathered near the crime scene tape.

“Everybody is so respectful and so concerned,” she said. “It speaks volumes in this community particularly.”

Homicide detectives are investigating the scene. The child was taken into protective custody until she could be reunited with family, Cunningham said.

“Absolute tragedy,” she said. “The only blessing in all of this is that the child is uninjured.”

Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at (317) 444-6156. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.