INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) — More than a hundred people gathered at the Womack Memorial CME Church along with community leaders, including IMPD and Indianapolis Prosecutor Ryan Mears.
It was a community meeting aimed to address the recent murder at a short-term rental property at the 4000 block of North Park Avenue in the city’s north side.
Attendees were concerned for the safety of their neighborhood and didn’t want another deadly incident like this to happen again.
Sunday’s shooting at North Park Ave left Brittany Members, a 38-year-old, dead. Neighbors said they heard more than 80 shots fired. Police said a large amount of people were at the scene.
City-County Councilor (D) John Barth said, “It’s important we do two things. One, make sure what we’re communicating to address the issue. And number two: give folks the opportunity to express their concerns and their ideas on how to make improvements."
Prosecutor Ryan Myers said incidents like this aren’t unique. He says in the past 18 months, there were four homicides in AirBnB rentals involving owners who don’t live in the area.
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The North Park Avenue owner lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The property violates an ordinance because it was not registered with the Department of Business Neighborhood Services rental registry. Councilor Barth says he wants to hold owners accountable. He said he is in talks with AirBnB to obtain a list of short-term rentals. The Meridian Kessler Neighborhood Association is also in touch with VRBO to gather a list as well.
Darrell Johnson Sr. has lived in the neighborhood for decades. “The people who don’t live in the city own property. They have to have some sort of responsibility of what goes on in their property, and I think we got to figure out what to do.”
Some residents say the police were slow to respond, even after they called the non-emergency line to report noise violations. “And I know some neighbors saw guns ahead of time and there was a lot of noise from the incident. They claimed that the police were called but didn’t respond, so I don’t know what the true answer this,” concerned resident Beverly Emmons said.
IMPD says they didn’t receive any 911 calls until after they responded to the scene. They said they don’t have information on the non-emergency calls and suggested that residents call 911 to escalate the situation instead of the non-emergency line.
Neighbor Angela Jones said she saw the scene with tons of teens, whom she called “children,” running scared. She thinks this not an AirBnB issue but rather a community issue where youth violence and gentrification need to be addressed.
“Has anyone thought that these kids need counseling. Has anyone thought of the people in the neighborhood who need counseling? What about us who witness that? What about us who had to take the kids to our homes?”
Some neighbors say they were worried these past few days, but now they can breathe a sigh of relief.
The Meridian Kessler Nieghborhood Association says the home has been permanently removed from AirBnB.
