Castleton Square Mall Unrest Leaves More Questions Than Answers

If you live in the range of the Indianapolis/central Indiana news agencies, you've probably heard about the unrest that occurred Saturday night at Castleton Square Mall. An hour before the mall closed for the night, fights broke out among youth who were in the food court area. It spilled into one of the parking lots. Media reports vary among how large the fight was or how many were involved.

This video from WTHR, while nothing of the actual fight, shows the crowd control that happened afterwards and shows some skirmishes happening among the crowd while police were present.

It is important to note that this occurred during the end of the Christmas Break in the academic calendar.

I think there are several important questions that need to be answered from all parties. That includes, but is not limited to:

• Simon Malls, which owns and operates Castleton Square Mall
• The powers-that-be in Indianapolis-Marion County politics
• The Indianapolis community at large
• The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department
• The Indianapolis Media

Simon Malls has repeatedly refused to enforce any type of curfew policy in their Indianapolis area malls and properties, including Castleton Square Mall and Circle Centre Mall in downtown Indy. When Simon Malls used to run Mall of America, they instituted a curfew policy which allows those 15 and under to be escorted by an adult of 21 years of age or older during the weekend evenings. This policy still stands today.

Our elected officials, and those that give them money and essentially run this city, should really be taking a hard look at Simon Property Group. They are a major beneficiary of all sorts of tax incentives from the city and the state. Maybe some of those incentives should come with strings attached.

Also, where is the social media presence from Simon? Where is any type of media presence? The few media types that were able to reach someone at Simon were met with "no comment." Their Twitter accounts for the individual mall and the Simon Malls are empty. This does not look good, and with no comment or guidance from Simon, the narrative is being set by the media. And it ain't pretty.

Both the powers-that-be in Indianapolis-Marion County politics and our community as a whole have collectively failed to provide an environment where people between the ages of 14 and 20 can go and find something to do in a safe, drug free environment that doesn't break the bank. In his Indianapolis Recorder column from two years ago, Amos Brown writes that "every mayor since Steve Goldsmith has worked to stamp out activities that would appeal to today's teens". As someone who was a teenager not that long ago, that was my experience. I'm certain the same is still true today.

I'm not a cop, but I know a few. When I ran for council in 2011, I was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 86. So I'd like to think I have a good understanding of what law enforcement in Marion County is up against. I'd like to think I can empathize with them even if I don't agree with what they did or how they handled something. But I am completely confused as to how a brawl can break out, that requires police to be called, and not a single arrest is made.

This just seems...off to me. I'm sure there is a logical explanation. But to me, just hearing that, it seems off.

IMPD also needs to work on being more certain before putting out statements. Several times IMPD said they had some advance knowledge of something being planned for the Castleton Mall area, with Fox 59 WXIN calling it "social media intelligence". IMPD later said they had no advance knowledge of it. Which makes me wonder what is their "social media intelligence" division like, and if their was any evidence to suggest that this unrest at the mall was partially planned, why wasn't it discovered in advance?

Finally, to my friends in the media. A couple of area news agencies published headlines saying "shots fired" (you can make out the original headline in the URL rather than what the headline text was later edited to). That turned out not to be true, and other news agencies covered their asses by saying "Reportedly" or "witnesses". It is sometimes hard to be a good judge of character when covering a chaotic crowd. But sometimes, it pays to be a bit more patient rather than to have egg on your face.

Afternoon Suicide Downtown

I was having a late lunch at Jimmy John's at Meridian and Washington around 3pm when I noticed all the Jimmy John's employees started leaving. The first part of an IMPD squad was arriving due to reports of gun shots from the Dennison parking garage on South Meridian. Before the dozens of additional law enforcement and media swarmed onto the area, there was a clear line of sight from the corner I stood at and where the body of the murder victim was. I later learned that the victim fell from one of the parking garage floors and landed on the sidewalk, almost hitting a pedestrian.

I first started getting reports via Twitter and word-of-mouth that the shooter killed himself, but I could still see a law enforcement officer with a firearm pointed to the parking garage. I later saw a LEO run into the garage. It was only about 20 minutes later that a Fox 59 reporter confirmed that the shooter shot himself.

As for the number of shots, the firearm used by the shooter, and other details, they are all under investigation. Reports from Twitter and from people I talked to at the scene all revealed different details. Hopefully the evening news casts will have a more full picture.

UPDATE: WIBC has a pretty good summary of what happened, including confirmation of the use of two handguns by the shooter.

UPDATE II: Wish-TV is reporting that it is a suicide and that there was no homicide at the scene. The man fired random shots then jumped. Earlier in the week, someone else committed suicide in a very public manner as well.

What's interesting is that there is a body in Hendricks County that police say is connected to the suicide that happened in downtown Indianapolis today.

Congratulations, Indy! We've made headlines across the nation!

Unfortunately, most of the headlines have been bad. Glenn Beck used the allegedly staged fighting incident at Municipal Gardens in one of his segments to rant about...whatever he rants about. Gary Welsh of Advance Indiana noted that the recent shooting that left two dead and six in the hospital made headlines in cable news and at the Associated Press. Similar headlines were also made during the shooting that occurred during the final Saturday of Black Expo. Many of these stories also made it onto The Drudge Report as well.

This isn't something an awesome PR campaign from the likes of Indianapolis Downtown Inc can cure, and shoveling money to professional sports won't do anything to help fight and reduce crime. Real or perceived, you can't overlook these stories and what it makes our city look like to outsiders. It makes one wonder if there is perhaps something better we could be spending tax dollars on rather than professional sports

Black Expo and Crime: Matthew Tully Gets It

Matthew Tully pens an excellent column in today's The Indianapolis Star. In part, it reads:

Let's be honest.If the shootings that occurred Downtown last weekend had been tied to the Indiana Plumbers Expo, or one of a thousand other conventions, the follow-up discussion wouldn't be so difficult.

[...]

But we're talking instead about Indiana Black Expo and its annual Summer Celebration. So any discussion about the monumental problems tied to it gets bogged down in the treacherous issue of race.

It's a hard issue to discuss. I've ticked off an endless stream of readers during five years of writing columns about all sorts of issues, but even I got queasy at the idea of diving into this one.

It doesn't help that moronic and simplistic racists thrive on this kind of thing. They turn anonymous online forums into a 21st century version of KKK meetings and make it even harder to have an adult conversation.

That said, we can't let the delicate nature of this subject, or the words of a few racists, prevent us from finally having an honest, and perhaps painful, discussion about the ongoing problems related to Black Expo. Fear of having a blunt conversation, and fear of being labeled a racist, likely has prevented the city from adequately addressing this ongoing problem before now. And so we are subjected to national headlines about the 10 young people shot in the very Downtown that Indy's leaders so often point to as the thing that makes this city special.

This is similar to what Gary Welsh has been saying over at Advance Indiana.

So what is the city's and Indiana Black Expo's answer to the ongoing crime problem that occurs during Indiana Black Expo's two weeks?

It reeks of middle management pass-the-buck tactics.

They're forming a task force.

I wish I was joking.

On the task force, taken from a side-bar in The Star's article today:

Members chosen so far to serve on the Indiana Black Expo task force are:

» Deputy Mayor Olgen Williams.

» IMPD Deputy Chief Daryl Pierce.

» IMPD Cmdr. Karen Arnett.

» Indiana State Police Maj. Jeff Walker.

» Mark Miles, president and CEO of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership.

» Tamara Zahn, CEO of Indianapolis Downtown Inc.

» Jeff Sweet, manager of the Greater Indianapolis Hotel & Lodging Association.

» The Rev. Charles Harrison, Ten Point Coalition.

» LeDeanna Brown, president of Midwest Leak Magazine.

» Radio One disc jockey B-Swift.

» State Rep. Bill Crawford, D-Indianapolis.

While Zahn said on WIBC that the task force is still forming, I can't say I'm impressed. Between Public Safety Director Frank Straub's suggestion of safety zones, and the line up so far, it looks like it'll be a lot of pandering, and a lot of do-nothings.

Pat Andrews of Had Enough Indy? also has an excellent post about Zahn's not-for-profit, Indianapolis Downtown Inc.

DEVELOPING: Multiple Shootings Downtown Saturday Evening

Multiple news sources are reporting on two separate shootings downtown, near Meridian and Capital St as well as Maryland and Illinois St. Abdul-Hakim Shabazz's Twitter feed is reporting one suspect is in custody, and that one of the victims was 10 years old.

I'm reading comments on Facebook and Twitter, as well as over at Gary Welsh's Advance Indiana, that Black Expo has had a history of crime in the recent past. I'll be looking into that to see what has happened in years past, and report back when I can.

I can personally attest to traffic being absolutely horrible downtown. Be careful, and keep a cool head.

UPDATE: Wish-TV seems to be the first with a news cast up on their site.




UPDATE II: I am deferring to fellow bloggers Abdul Hakim-Shabazz and Gary Welsh, who are all running excellent coverage of this major event with unique perspectives of what happened. I might have a few thoughts to throw into the ring later today.