INDIANAPOLIS — Keondre Davidson was celebrating his birthday with friends and family when someone shot him to death on the north side Wednesday night.
Davidson, 19, had been active in community programs at the Martin Luther King Community Center, 40 West 40th St. Staff at the center expressed their grief in an Instagram post on Thursday.
“We are heartbroken again. Keondre was killed tonight on Salem Street,” the MLK Center posted on Instagram. “He was an alum of our Tarkington Teen Work Crew. He has two young children and one on the way.”
Allison Luthe, the MLK Center’s director, said Davidson’s death was a shock to staff and the community.
“His family and his siblings have been close to the MLK Center,” Luthe said. “He was very humble and a caregiver in his family.”
As a work crew member, Davidson spent the summer cleaning up parks in his north-side neighborhood. Teens apply to join the crews and are paid a stipend for their work.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said Davidson and a woman were shot shortly after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at a home in the 3700 block of Salem Street, a neighborhood just west of North Meridian and 37th streets.
Davidson died at an area hospital, police said. The woman was hospitalized in stable condition.
Police have made no arrests. The incident remained under investigation, an IMPD spokeswoman said Friday.
IMPD has investigated 88 criminal homicides so far this year, compared to 56 criminal homicides by May 14, 2020.
Luthe said the MLK Center is trying to teach better ways to handle conflict with programs aimed at building a culture of nonviolence in this north-side neighborhood.
“This isn’t just a 37th and Salem problem. This is something that impacts the entire city,” Luthe said. “It’s a tragedy when things like this still happen.”
The MLK Center has established a fund to help Davidson’s family. It raised more than $1,600 by Friday.
