INDIANAPOLIS – The three men killed in a suspected drug house shootout on the city’s northwest side Monday night are not Indianapolis natives and their deaths may indicate a dangerous escalation of the narcotics trade in Marion County.
Stranger Dunn, 34; Esker Dodson-Walker, 33, from northwest Indiana; and Valdemar Enriquez, 21, Corpus Christi, Texas, died in a gun battle at 5232 Lakemanor Dr. Monday night.
A 10-year-old girl was wounded by a stray bullet.
Sources tell FOX59 News that guns, heroin and cash were found inside the house.
“What we believe is that this was not a random act,” said Lt. Chris Bailey with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. “These people that were living at the house, or staying, and the others that came had some sort of relationship together. They knew each other. The house and most likely the individuals were targeted for one reason or another.”
In the wake of other recent heroin and cocaine busts, the shootout may be indicative of the influence of Mexican-based heroin cartels in central Indiana.
“You got connections everywhere,” said Byron Alston of the Ten Point Coalition which sent street workers to the murder scene to talk with witnesses and neighbors. “We are sleeping. We don’t come together so it’s wide open. If I was in the game, that’s where I would set up in Indianapolis. Indianapolis is sleeping. We behind time.”
So far this year 59 people have been murdered in the city compared to 47 a year ago.
There have been five double murders, two triple murders and one quadruple murder, many most likely tied to drugs.
In all of 2013 there were five double murders.
It’s possible Indianapolis’ murderous spike may be traced back to retaliation for earlier killings.
“Oh, it ain’t over,” said Alston. “Its far from over. When you got that many people, there’s gonna be some angry people out there. There’s gonna be some upset people and people’s gonna want revenge and what we do is we try to stop revenge but people’s gonna want it. That many people killed at one time, there’s gonna be some backlash somewhere.”
In two other unrelated incidents, a 19-year-old man was shot and Patrick Martin, 24, was killed in the 4000 block of North Boulevard Place in what a source told FOX59 News what appeared to be a targeted killing.
A gunman entered a home where several people were present, singled out Martin and shot him.
IMPD has warned that some of the witnesses in that case could face retaliation.