INDIANAPOLIS -- A man was shot and killed early Monday morning in what police are treating as the city’s 150th murder of the year.
The shooting happened around 12:30 a.m. in the 5300 block of Butler Terrace in the Hawthorne Place Apartments.
According to police, family members discovered the adult male victim deceased of multiple apparent gunshot wounds inside an apartment.
The victim has been identified as Walter Benyon, 25, by the Marion County Coroner's Office.
MAP | 2017 Indianapolis Homicides
Investigators did not immediately release a possible motive or any suspect info in the case.
IMPD confirmed the incident marks the city’s 150th criminal homicide of the year – breaking the record of 149 set in 2016. That gives 2017 the dubious distinction of being the third year in a row in which Indianapolis has set a homicide record, and the seventh in a row in which homicides have increased in the city.
"We have seen now five or six years of surging violence," said Rev. Charles Harrison of the Ten Point Coalition. "It seems to be spread all over the city, it's not in one location. We have to find a way to address what is driving the violence now in the city."
FULL STORY | Indianapolis breaks homicide record, again
"The concern of the residents is the violence," Harrison said. "They want safe and peaceful neighborhoods. Many feel like they are being terrorized in their own neighborhoods because its not just the homicides. It's the criminal activity it's the robberies... the shots fired in these neighborhoods.
"Some neighborhoods say they hear shots fired every night ... young people are running on the streets... have no hope. We have to find a way to give young people hope and help improve the quality of their lives so they won't be involved in criminal activity and drug trafficking."
PHOTOS | The faces of 2017's homicide victims
If you have any information that can help solve this or any other case, you’re asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS. Your call may remain anonymous.
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