Indianapolis police create program to address effects of gun violence on Marion County families

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has created a new program to address the wide-reaching effects of gun violence on families across Marion County.

The program will help survivors of shootings navigate resources available to help them through life after the event.

This does not only include homicides, as nonfatal shootings are also impacting many lives.

Danyell McCoullough is a mother who knows firsthand what gun violence can do to a family. In one shooting she lost a son while another son was critically injured. McCoullough believes if a program like this was in existence after the shooting, it would have changed things.

"Up until now, I was trying to figure out things on my own," McCoullough said. "How to deal with it spiraling down very very fast. How do you know how to heal if you don't have resources and tools to go to."

She believes the tools will come in handy for young people in Indianapolis.

"It's needed, especially for our youth," McCoullough said. "We are losing our children. These babies are dying very rapidly and it's sad."

DeAndra Dycus also knows what it's like to have a child shot but survive. Her son Dre was injured in a 2014 shooting and is now living with quadriplegia. She has partnered with IMPD to help manage the new program called the "nonfatal shooting support group". It is geared to help survivors.

"What a lot of people don't know is you leave the hospital and you don't always get that information," Dycus said. "They are trying to get you home and get you well and you are left out here trying to figure out what's the new steps."

The program will help survivors navigate resources available to help them through life after a shooting.

The program is a partnership between Dycus, IUPUI's O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and the Indianapolis Office of Public Health and Safety. The city received a grant through the Office of Public Health and Safety from the American Rescue Plan.

So far in 2022, there have been 47 confirmed homicides and 136 nonfatal shootings in Indianapolis, according to data from IMPD.