INDIANAPOLIS — Overnight violence on Harlan Street has left community leaders calling for action.
“Our message is to be safe – our message is having fun and enjoy," Bernard Mickle, with the Office of Public Health and Safety for the City of Indianapolis said.
IMPD says a man was found shot and killed at a home on the 1000 block of Harlan Street.
The deadly shooting taking place on the city’s near east side, near Keystone Ave. and Prospect St.
“We are going to send a message as temperatures rise and tempers flare that it is important for all of us to stay calm, cool and collected and have a great weekend and summer," Kenneth Sullivan said.
Sullivan is the pastor of New Direction Church. He is hoping that this year’s holiday weekend is different than 2021.
“We want young people to understand that there is a healthier way to resolve conflict than fighting and violence,” Sullivan said.
This weekend he is launching his “Don’t lose your cool Campaign”. The program discusses tactics people can use to de-escalate situations.
"We want to make sure that our young people are not in harm’s way, we want to protect them so let’s look out for the children. They are the future," Sullivan said.
The Office of Public Health and Safety is putting peacemakers in areas where they think large crowds will gather this in hopes of deescalating the violence before it starts.
“We are confident because who believe in those who are out being peacemakers, as they are being peacemakers, we know that we are being intentional to place them we know that we are being intentional to place them where large crowds gather,” Bernard Mickle, with the Office of Public Health and Safety for the City of Indianapolis said.
