INDIANAPOLIS — An early morning shooting adjacent to the downtown Indianapolis Canal has nearby residents concerned.
“During the day, and the canal is everything that you wished it would be, it's just a fantastic place,” shared canal area resident Daniel Urdziel. “Sometimes at night, it's just not what you want.”
Around 4 in the morning on Tuesday, police responded to 600 Canal walk on a report of a person shot.
According to IMPD, Upon arrival officers located a male victim who had been shot. He was transported to a nearby hospital and IMPD says he is in stable condition.
The violence woke up neighbors in fear.
“Just waking up in the middle of the night to gunshots, it’s no fun,” Daniel Urdziel explained. “Trying to figure out where's it coming from…it's a scary feeling to wake up to.”
Urdziel isn’t alone. Sarah Williams enjoys walking along the canal most days but she no longer walks the trail after dusk.
“I don't honestly walk the canal at night once it hits dark,” Sarah explained. "I don't personally know, anybody who's gotten mugged or anything like that, but I know it happens frequently enough that it's just not a smart thing to do.”
IMPD has patrolled the area regularly and will add more patrol over the summer months.
“As we get into our summer months there are more people walking on a canal,” shared IMPD Officer William Young. “Our officers will do everything that we can to be a presence per se.”
Williams has noticed IMPD officers patrolling the area and she feels it does make the area safer.
“Once it starts to hit kind of dusk, you see a few police officers walking up and down, which is nice,” Williams said.
Urdziel shares the same feelings saying the presence of police officers do make the area safer.
“It deters people from wanting to act out on the canal,” Urdziel shares. “We haven't seen too many issues while police has been present at night.”
Urdziel is hopeful that a higher police presence will lead to a safer canal at all hours.
“The canal is a beautiful place and I think it's one of Indianapolis's greatest assets,” Urdziel shared.
