Stray bullet kills woman in her kitchen

Michael Anthony Adams | The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — A 41-year-old woman was working in her kitchen when a stray bullet came through her home, killing her, authorities said Friday.

Renea Lloyd's son David Lloyd, 21, found his mother around 9:15 p.m. ET Wednesday in the kitchen near the refrigerator and called police.

"The female victim was located inside the home with apparent trauma to her head," said Officer Rafael Diaz, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department spokesman. "It was later determined at the scene the wound was caused by a gunshot."

An initial investigation revealed the bullet from a handgun that killed Lloyd was not meant for her, yet "there were no reports of shots fired anywhere in the area" before the responding officers' arrival, he said.

The death is being investigated as a homicide.

Lloyd's home, north of downtown between the Crown Hill and Mapleton-Fall Creek neighborhoods, is just a few blocks from one of six Department of Public Safety focus areas. Data released by the city last year shows people are nearly 2½ times more likely to be killed in this area than the rest of Indianapolis.

“Our youth don`t know the responsibility of owning a fire weapon or what a human life means in this neighborhood," David Lloyd told WXIN-TV, Indianapolis. "A shot went off and happened to hit my mother,” he said.

His mother was making food in the kitchen when she was hit, he said.

“The person who probably fired that bullet probably knows my mother," he said. "She loved everybody.”

A friend of Renea Lloyd has set up a GoFundMe page to pay for her funeral expenses. (Photo: GoFundMe)