Indianapolis police are investigating a mass shootout that left five people, the unborn baby of a pregnant woman dead and a community suffering from what the mayor called “an act of evil”.
Authorities provided little information about the victims or the reason, but said the FBI and federal prosecutors had been alerted.
“I want those responsible to know that all the power of the local, state and federal police is coming at them as I speak,” said Mayor Joe Hogsett.
“Coming for them today, coming for them tonight, coming for them tomorrow and the day after.”
Police said the mass murder took place before 4 am Sunday morning. Police officers were called in to report a boy with gunshot wounds in the street. When the victim was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, investigators went to a nearby home, where they found the others shot dead.
Among the dead was a pregnant woman who was rushed to the hospital, but she and her unborn child could not be saved, police said at an afternoon news conference.
No reason was given for the worst shooting in the city in more than a decade, but officials said it was not a random act.
“I want to make one thing very clear: what happened this morning was not a simple act of armed violence,” said the mayor. “What happened this morning was a mass murder, the choice of an individual or individuals to bring – and I don’t use those words lightly – terror into our community.”
While officers pleaded for tips that would lead them to the culprit, Hogsett said the police would track down whether the weapons involved in the incident were illegally, hold salesmen accountable and also arrest anyone who was harboring the sniper or snipers.
“We will not stop until any accomplice in this act of violence is fully blamed,” he said.