INDIANAPOLIS — Mayor Joe Hogsett said Indianapolis is only left with grief after a mass shooting in which eight people were killed by a gunman Thursday night at a FedEx Ground facility on the city's southwest side.
"Grief for the families of those killed. Grief for the employees who have lost their coworkers and grief for the many Americans struggling to understand how tragedies like this continue to happen again and again," Hogsett said.
The shooting occurred around 11 p.m. Thursday at the FedEx Ground-Plainfield Operation Center in the 8900 block of Mirabel Road. Indianapolis police said a person, identified as 19-year-old Brandon Scott Hole, began firing randomly outside the facility and then entered the building where he continued shooting.
Four people were found dead outside and another four were killed inside the FedEx facility. Hole was also found dead after he died by suicide.
The victims were identified as Matthew R. Alexander, 32, Samaria Blackwell, 19, Amarjeet Johal, 66, Jaswinder Kaur, 64, Jaswinder Singh, 68, Amarjit Sekhon, 48, Karli Smith, 19, and John Weisert, 74.
At least five people remain hospitalized with injuries, police said Friday. Their conditions and details about their injuries have not been released.
Hogsett emphasized the need to guard against resignation and despair as the city reels from its third mass homicide since Jan. 24. That effort begins, he said, with a serious conversation that needs to take place not just in Indianapolis, but around the country about the "extraordinary proliferation of guns and cycles of violence."
"The process of healing will take time, but I think healing does depend on meaningful conversations between people about how we stop this cycle of violence that's driven by readily accessible guns, and I certainly intend to lead in that regard," Hogsett said.
He added residents cannot just assume "this is simply how it must be and that we might as well get used to it."
"We need the courage that compels courageous acts that push past weariness," he said. "Last night was a devastating blow, and its impact will be felt by our community for days and weeks to come. But in times of despair, I know that our residents will rally together and help one another make it through."
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Watch Friday's news conference below:
