IMPD Reports 72 Homicides in First Half of 2025

Some of the youngest victims include 14-year-old Deandra Staples, shot and killed January 11.

Police lights and crime scene tape. — Source: (Photo by WISH-TV.)

INDIANAPOLIS — Dozens of people have been shot and killed across Indianapolis in the first half of 2025, and many of those cases are still wide open.

From January through the end of June, IMPD recorded at least 72 homicides, according to numbers released Tuesday in the department’s monthly email. Just under 60 percent remain unsolved.

The violence has touched nearly every corner of the city, from the far south side to neighborhoods near Michigan Road and across the east side.

Some of the youngest victims include 14-year-old Deandra Staples, shot and killed January 11 on Salisbury Lane, and 2-year-old Skylar Gardner, who died January 25 on Newberry Road. A woman was arrested in her case in March.

Police have made quick arrests in a few cases. Charles Clay Collins, 62, died in a crash on Madison Avenue on May 15. Officers arrested a man within a month. Jaiden Gardfrey, 18, was shot and killed April 2. Police arrested another young man five days later.

But detectives are still looking for answers in many cases, including the March 8 stabbing of 52-year-old Shawn Woods and the June 28 shooting of 36-year-old Courtney Haynes on West Vermont Street.

Some incidents stand out. Two men were killed months apart in the same area on East 42nd Street, and one case remains labeled as “unknown” after a man was found dead on June 29 on Southeastern Avenue.

IMPD is asking anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.

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