Two Photographers shot at Indy fire

[JSPhoto]

Two photographers were shot while covering a house fire in Indy overnight. Indianapolis has become a war zone the past month and now it seems news photographers will need to be wearing bullet proof vests.

http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=8696061

JS

[Frog]

Damn! no further words but I'm shaking my head

[Photo-John]

That's nuts! Was the fire in a bad part of town? And why is it becoming a war zone? Is it gangs and drugs ot something else?

[JSPhoto]

It is nuts. But Indy has been going nuts the past couple years with a growing murder rate, but lately it's been going through the roof with 13 murders in a two or three week period. That streak ended when a police officer trying to serve a warrant on a murder suspect was shot in the head. The officer is still alive and actually getting better. It seems now since the noon news that this is all related with this mornings incident as well. One of the shooting victims from July 1st may have been the shooter last night as he aledgedly said to the photographers "your here covering this (the abandoned house fire) why didn't you cover me when I was shot".
I can't believe thats why this moron shot these two, I'm at a loss for words other than to say this guy doesn't value life at all if thats his "excuse". Well he got his coverage now... along with SWAT taking him out of his home.

JS

[JSPhoto]

That's nuts! Was the fire in a bad part of town? And why is it becoming a war zone? Is it gangs and drugs ot something else?

PJ, The whole city is going nuts, no where is safe at night, and it's all due to the almighty $. People are doing whatever they have to put gas in their tanks, food in their stomachs and drugs in their bodies. Heck, they were even stealing from an apartment complex that got hit by a tornado. To make it worse it's both individuals and gangs. It's really sad but "security" is becoming a big business around here.

JS

[EOSThree]

That's sad to hear. I guess I am glad I don't live in Indy anymore. I always thought it was a nice city, and I always felt pretty save there. I guess things have changed a lot.

[SmartWombat]

Civilisation is a terribly thin veneer, isn't it?

I'm surprised Detroit isn't in similar trouble.
Or any other area that has few jobs and poor prospects.

[OBie]

I'm having visions of "Mad Max" movies...

Very sad for Indy.

[ComicDom1]

Wow, its just like the South West side of Chicago where I grew up. Gang wars, then shooting, and burning people out. I remember being on the street when a little girl caught a bullet in the arm. Its terrible, and it appears no photographer or innocent bystander is safe. Its also terrible that Firemen who are only attempting to do their jobs are not safe anymore either.

I have close friends that live in the Indianapolis area. The husband manages an IRL team and his wife is a former model of mine. We visit them every so often and have enjoyed some of the nice resturaunts in the downtown area. I also have another aquaintance who is a first class photographer that lives in that area.

This kind of stuff really makes you wonder if there is any city or place in the US that is safe to live or work. If you move into the country, then you give up the convienances of public transportation and other services and have to drive just to buy food or other needed items.

Jason

[JSPhoto]

Just heard on the news the guy the police had for questioning has admitted to the shootings! I have to give IMPD credit as they handled things very well considering. They waited until after the fire department cleared the fire scene before going back to the house where they thought the suspect was. When they went back they came with SWAT and he surrendered.

Good news! Both photographers will be OK and have been released from the hospital. Both will have to have surgery later but can go back to work.

It is sad, but whats really sad is that the political types keep say there is no jobless issues and were doing great, insteadf of admitting that Indy is hurting big time and the high gas prices are just making things worse. The politicians just close their eyes to the real problems. Indy has gone downhill in the past 15 years and it's not getting any better, but then when you have kids looking up to a bunch of thugs (ie Indiana Pacers) what would you expect. They see these guys involved in shootings and drugs and so forth and they follow suit..... it's really sad!

JS

[Lori11]

Ohhhhhhhhh could I get on a soap box....I wont however. I am glad to hear the photogs are ok and :thumbsup: to SWAT......

[JSPhoto]

Well this is weird, the guy who confessed was indeed a shooting victim and he was po'ed because the news didn't cover "his" shooting so he shot these two photographers, an he shot them with a pellet gun! Needless to say the guy isn't playing with a full deck, but he should get plenty of "time" to think things through, and hopefully his 1 year old will be out of high school before he gets out of prison, with a father that dumb the kids better off without him around!

JS

[ciddog91]

JS... I am glad to hear that the photogs are ok.....Things really have gone to heck with the economy. Gangs are growing and getting more violent. It will be this way until the economy picks up. It always is.

SW...
"The Motor City experienced 418 cases of murder and non-negligent manslaughter in 2006. That's 47.3 murders per every 100,000 residents. Detroit also ranked high for violent crime (No. 2), robbery (No. 4) and forcible rape (No. 12)." http://www.forbes.com/2007/11/08/mur...108murder.html

Detroit is as bad as ever. I live and work in the area and we were slow with the metro area averaging around 300-325 murders per year. Now were have had more killings than soldiers we lost in Iraq per month. New doesn't even cover it unless it is something "spectacular" like a child or a citizen helping another stop a killing , ect. That is not even the shootings, just killings. The politicians say it is getting better, but it is just lip service to keep people satisfied. Before it got bad we were busy on the SWAT team. Now they are swamped. One house to the next in Detroit (where all criminals seem to run to).

But in time it will get better.... My hope......

Phil

[JSPhoto]

Detroit has always had high crime rates. Back in the 70's we stayed in a moyel that had bullet holes in the walls, stayed in the same place in the 90's and the walls were new but still had bullet holes in em! Philly is worse and obviously NYC and LA lead the pack. But here in Indy it's just crazy, it's not a place that has high crime but there is sometyhing major daily now, murder or robbery, robberies are way up with two or three a day that are news worthy. And it's hitting the surrounding counties just as bad as the crooks think it's easier to hit there as the cops are less likely to get them....wrong! Our jail is full.

Yup, it's good to hear the photogs were OK, but it makes you think twice when going to a fire.

JS

[JETA]

This is so scary I'm not sure what to say.

I'm glad the photogs will be ok and they caught the guy. I hope they string him up by his cahoonas.

[EOSThree]

I am currently living in Fairbanks, and I live in Wyoming the rest of the year. So I go from the least populated state to the second least populated state, I think I like that. Fairbanks isn't the nicest place in the world, but it's relatively light on crime, and Wyoming, especially my town, is pretty much crime free. In Wyoming the petty crime has been increasing a bit, mostly due to boredom I think. People still leave their door unlocked, cars with keys in them, etc. etc. and stuff is pretty much left alone. I think I like that.

[freygr]

Civilisation is a terribly thin veneer, isn't it?

I'm surprised Detroit isn't in similar trouble.
Or any other area that has few jobs and poor prospects.

Look up the Devils Night, last day of October, they have been burning down Detroit for years.