INDIANAPOLIS — City officials launched the Crime Gun Intelligence Center on Monday at the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's East District. The goal of the center is to connect the dots between violent offenders and the guns they're using to commit crimes.
RTV6 heard from a mother who can't help but wonder if these measures would've helped catch the person who shot her son five years ago.
"Dre should be graduating. This was his year to walk across the stage," Deandra Dycus said.
In 2014, Dycus' life - and her son's - changed forever.
"My son was 13-years-old at a birthday party on the west side of Indy. He was shot by a stray bullet," Dycus said. "He was in the house, minding his own business and got hit in the back of the head. Dre has not walked or talked since that day."
No suspect was arrested in the case.
"Every hope and every dream was snatched from him, it hurts," Dycus said. "It hurts every day."
It's cases like this one investigators are targeting through the Crime Gun Intelligence Center. They are using real-time analysis to connect a single perpetrator with multiple crime scenes. Generating leads that result in arrests and prosecuting repeat violent offenders.
"It's our prayer every day. He's brought to justice," Dycus said. "It's also a prayer that he hasn't been harmed anyone else in these last five years."
So far this year authorities have made 38 arrests and taken 28 illegal guns off the street.
"Half the crime guns for the state are located right here in Indianapolis and Marion County," U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler said. "So that sort of gives you an idea of the challenge we have to face."
It's unlikely Dre will walk or talk again. But his mom and countless others affected by violence are hopeful the new measures will bring change to Indianapolis.
The city says that in 2018 it saw a five-fold increase in the number of leads in gun cases from agencies working together, better evidence collection and more officers walking the beat.
