Could parents of Indianapolis teens involved in crime be charged? Maybe
"I don't know how many times I have to say it. We are not your children's keepers. You are," Bailey said. "And parents and guardians have got to step up."
As police were in the process of breaking up a fight at around 1:30 a.m. on July 5, they heard gunfire from a mass shooting that killed Xavion Jackson, 16, and Azareaon S. Cole, 15. Two other teens and three adults were also injured.
On July 7, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office announced charges against four teens who were found downtown with guns around the time of the shooting. None of the teens, who range in age from 13 to 17, have been accused of committing the shooting, but are charged with possessing guns under the age of 18.
That charge, known as "dangerous possession of a firearm," is the most common charge filed in Marion County's juvenile court. It's increased dramatically in the last few years, Prosecutor Ryan Mears said. The eldest teen, who is being charged as an adult, already has a prior conviction for that charge.
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More: Ralph Durrett hopes to create 'positive childhood experiences' for Indianapolis' youth
To Bailey, Indianapolis' ongoing struggle with youth violence is at least in part due to guardians' negligence.
"If I can convince the prosecutor to hold parents accountable, I'm gonna do that, too," Bailey said on July 5.
Mears said more cases are expected to be filed in the coming days, and the possibility of cases against parents or guardians "will certainly be investigated."
It's not an entirely novel idea: in 2024, the parents of a Michigan school shooter were separately convicted of involuntary manslaughter, even though neither was directly involved in the killings.
Charges of that nature will likely require forensic analyses of phones and social media because investigators are looking for proof that parents knew or should have known their child had a gun.
Parents of the charged teens have not been "super cooperative in answering law enforcement questions," according to Mears.
"It's beyond ridiculous that a 13-year-old was walking around downtown with a gun," Mears said.
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The city announced plans to enforce a youth curfew prohibiting teens between 15 and 17 from being unaccompanied in public between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
A similar plan was announced more than a year ago after a different downtown Indianapolis mass shooting wounded seven teens. In April 2024, a feud between teens escalated into a gunfight, shining a national spotlight on the city's struggle to curb youth violence.
The results of that initiative are unclear. IndyStar has asked the city for the number of teens cited under the curfew over the past two years and has not yet received a response.
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Indianapolis Star
17 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
Indianapolis City-County Council Democrat accused of physical and sexual abuse
Keith Graves, a Democratic member of the Indianapolis City-County Council that's been tasked with improving how the city handles allegations of sexual harassment and abuse, is facing and denying allegations of domestic violence. Laurin Embry, 29, alleges that she experienced physical and sexual assault committed by Graves, 59, between 2020 and 2022, during their relationship and its aftermath. Meanwhile, Embry's claim is not the first time Graves, who was first elected in 2019, has been accused of domestic abuse. Last spring a Marion County judicial official granted a civil protective order to another woman after she alleged domestic violence committed by Graves. That claim was eventually dismissed. No criminal charges were filed in either case, and in a statement Graves denied the claims, saying he never "jeopardized anyone's safety, comfort, or dignity." Embry, a social worker and Democratic campaign volunteer and vice-precinct committee member, is coming forward as Indianapolis Democrats are grappling over how they've responded to past abuse and harassment allegations that have come to light over the last year, ensnaring prominent current and former party members. "I don't think I'll ever have peace or justice," Embry said. "I'm not asking for his resignation. I'm not even asking for the party to hold him accountable because obviously that is just too much to ask of our elected officials. All I'm doing is telling the truth about what happened to me so I can help other people." The Indianapolis City-County Council has come under intense scrutiny as the legislative body has sought to provide oversight over Mayor Joe Hogsett's administration, including investigating how the mayor responded to claims of harassment and assault against his former chief of staff Thomas Cook. Cook last year apologized for past relationships that he said "violated a trust placed in me." Graves has been largely silent publicly during the frequent council debate over the issues, even as three members of his own party on the council have called for Hogsett to resign. The 2024 protective order against Graves was known about by local political insiders, but it wasn't formally discussed among council Democrats or leadership last year, Democratic City-County Council members and a person close to the caucus told IndyStar. Graves continues to serve as chairman of the council's education committee. Graves, in a statement to IndyStar, said Embry's claims were false but did not directly answer many detailed questions sent by IndyStar about the allegations from Embry or the 2024 protective order filed by the other woman. "I am deeply disappointed by the allegations being made against me," Graves said. "These claims do not reflect the values I hold as a father, a brother, a mentor, and a public servant. What was once a mutual and respectful relationship is now being portrayed in a drastically different and troubling way. I want to be absolutely clear: I have never acted in a way that jeopardized anyone's safety, comfort, or dignity. I unequivocally deny the false and hurtful claims that are now being shared." When Embry and Graves met at a local political event in late 2019, she was 24 and starting to become more involved in local Democratic politics. Graves was 53, and had just been elected to a seat on the City-County Council, while Embry had dreams of running for office one day. She said she trusted him because he was an elected official. "He told me he was 42," she said. "Had I known the truth, I could have acted accordingly. My choice was taken away from me." After they met and started talking, Graves said he welcomed becoming "close friends," according to 1 a.m. text messages between the two of them provided by Embry to IndyStar. "What is a close friend to you?" Embry asked in one message. "Trusted person that you get to see and spend time with from time to time," Graves responded. "There's more.. we can identify over time." From there, Embry said, the relationship progressed quickly. Graves invited her to his home a few days later. She said he pressured her to drink alcohol when she arrived. "I had a couple sips of it," she said. "When I drank enough, he was like 'OK, we can go upstairs.' Things were moving a little fast." She woke up in his bed the next morning despite not planning to stay over. They were in nearly constant contact after that, she said. She believed they were in an exclusive relationship and was invested in making it work, ignoring red flags along the way, she said. "Taking myself out of it, if I were a third person, what it would look like to me is an older elected official taking advantage of a younger person," she said. "I always thought I was smarter than average, but I was freshly 24. I was naive." Embry alleged physical and sexual assault by Graves. In one instance, shortly after the relationship began in 2020, she said he became angry that she hadn't responded to his text messages or calls one night when she was asleep. He grabbed her neck, applied pressure, and threatened her, she said. "He accused me of cheating on him," she said. "He stands up and with his hand around my neck, walks me back until my back hit the wall. He told me that he better not find out that I'm seeing anyone else." Embry said the situation eventually de-escalated once she reassured him that she was being faithful to him. Indianapolis resident Paul Alvies, who is Embry's uncle, said Embry told him about that instance shortly after it occurred. "She said something like, 'It won't happen again, she's not going to let no one do that to her,'" Alvies said. "I was like, 'It shouldn't happen in the first place.' I was really angry. I don't care if he's a councilor or not." She also alleged that Graves sexually assaulted her on one occasion in summer 2022, after showing up at her home unannounced. The two were already broken up by that point. "I got that knock on the door in the evening," Embry said. "I'm like, you know what? I'm at least going to confront him about the mental games that I knew about because they had serious consequences." He initially made small talk with her by complimenting a nearby photo of Embry's late father and the urn that contained his remains, she said. She said he eventually tried to persuade her to "continue on with him" but she wasn't interested. She was sitting on the couch when he leaned over her and started to kiss and touch her body, applying the weight of his body against her. She repeatedly asked him to stop, she said. "He used his body to kind of lean over me … and to keep me from pushing him off of me," she said. "I am saying 'No. Stop. Get up.' Eventually, he does get up, but it's important for me to point out that before he did, I really did try to, with all of my might, to get him off of me." Once he got up, she said Graves faced her and rubbed his genitals. She said she found the incident deeply disturbing and disrespectful. "This was not the person that I thought that I loved," she said. She said she didn't go to the police after either incident. Graves, in his statement, said "at no point during that time (of the relationship) did she express feeling unsafe or mistreated. It is disturbing and disheartening that more than three years later, our relationship is being recast in this way." "Abuse is a serious matter, one that I do not take lightly," Graves said. "These accusations are not only false but deeply alarming in their intent and timing." The relationship with Graves deeply impacted Embry's mental health, leading to depression and multiple suicide attempts in recent years, she said. "It had a major toll," she said. "What he describes as healthy and consensual had me contemplating jumping off of an overpass. I actually held a loaded gun to my head." She says it also had a monetary cost. She's paid thousands of dollars for treatment for the resulting trauma and emotional distress, medical bills she shared with IndyStar show. She also has paid out of her own pocket for security when she's in public, Cash App payments show, because she's afraid of being approached by Graves, who she said has appeared at her workplace and home unexpectedly in the past. Beyond the time when she alleges sexual assault occurred, she said there have been other late-night knocks on the door that she believes were from Graves because those occurrences would sometimes coincide with her receiving phone calls from him. A longtime friend of Embry's, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retribution, told IndyStar she heard knocks when she would stay at Embry's house overnight in 2022. Embry also provided IndyStar screenshots of text messages, repeated phone calls, an email and a Cash App payment made by Graves to her in 2022. "I love you," he texted her on Jan. 12, 2022. She didn't reply, she said and screenshots show. Hours later he followed up again, texting simply, "Laurin." Between Feb. 9 and 11, 2022, he called her six times. She didn't answer. He's also tried to interact with her in professional settings, Embry said. On Feb. 13, 2023, for example, she said he approached her at a housing event she was hosting at the Indiana Statehouse. "I went into fight or flight," she said. "All I could think to do is get my purse and leave. I just got the hell out of Dodge." She once got a notification at 3:58 a.m. one morning in September of 2023 that he started following her workplace's Instagram account. In 2024, she was asked to serve on a panel on housing stability by the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic. She agreed, then later learned he would also be on the panel. He walked up to her before the panel started and touched her arm, she said, which made her uncomfortable. "He hovered over me," she said. "It was consistent, despite me backing up or putting space in between us." This isn't the first allegation of domestic abuse against Graves during his time serving on the council. Last year, another woman filed and was granted a protective order against Graves by a Marion County Superior Court magistrate. The civil protective order, signed in spring of 2024, states that the woman showed, by a preponderance of evidence, that "domestic or family violence has occurred sufficient to justify the issuance of this order." It found Graves "represents a credible threat" to the safety of the woman. IndyStar is not naming the woman as it typically does not name victims of assault without their consent. The day before the protective order, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were called to Graves' home because of a domestic disturbance, according to a police report. The offense is listed as a "simple assault" and the woman is listed as the victim in the report. No criminal charges were ever filed. A few days later, Graves filed a petition for a protective order against the woman, alleging she committed "repeated acts of harassment against me," including destruction of property. That petition was denied after the magistrate found Graves hadn't shown enough evidence that violence or harassment occurred sufficient to justify the issuance of a protective order. The woman asked a few weeks later that the protective order she was granted be dismissed, which ended the matter. The woman declined to comment to IndyStar. Graves, in his statement, said "while a protective order was once filed, it was voluntarily dismissed without me ever appearing in court. No criminal charges were filed. That chapter is closed, and to this day, we maintain a cordial relationship." The 2024 filing of the protective order was reported on at the time in local political blog and whispered about among some local politicos, but it was never widely reported on by mainstream outlets or publicly addressed by council leaders. At the time, Graves and the woman declined to comment to the political blog. The protective order didn't come up among council Democrats in caucus last year, multiple Democratic City-County Council members and a person close to the caucus told IndyStar, even though some people knew about the claim. Jesse Brown, an outspoken critic of how both council leadership and Hogsett's administration have handled abuse allegations, became aware of Embry's allegation a few months ago when Embry confided in him, he said. Brown said Embry described to him "very clearly nonconsensual and abusive" behavior. He encouraged council leadership to censure Graves and remove his committee chairmanship position. "Why don't we have a plan on how to deal with behavior like that? There's no consistency," Brown said. "In the caucus we see that abuse is tolerated and there's never anything the powerful are forced to reckon with." Council President Vop Osili and Vice President Ali Brown declined to comment on the matter and referred questions to Caucus leader Maggie Lewis, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Embry said it's ironic that Graves is serving on a body that the public expects to provide leadership to reform city policies to protect women. She said she was dismayed after watching other councilors fail to intervene when former Hogsett campaign staffer Lauren Roberts was dragged out of the Council chambers by sheriffs at Osili's command last month as Roberts tried to relay her concerns about experiencing abuse as a Hogsett campaign staffer. "I see victim blaming, I see elected officials quickly trying to put this issue to bed while protecting predators," Embry said. "As a victim, I am seeing the person that perpetrated violence against me silent while all of this is happening." Graves said he was "committed to transparency and accountability." "I reject any attempt to equate my situation with any unrelated matters involving other past or present public officials or city employees," Graves said. "I believe in creating a harassment-free work environment and protecting the physical and mental well-being of every city-county employee. I will continue to serve the people of District 9 with integrity and purpose, as I have always done." Embry said she is skeptical that her story will result in accountability, but she wanted to make a difference for women who want to advance in local politics by sharing her story. "Being able to help others would be the only justice," Embry said.
USA Today
a day ago
- USA Today
Fireworks and AR-15s used in July 4 ambush on ICE agents, leading to 10 arrests
A group of at least 10 people attacked an ICE detainment facility in Texas, leaving one cop with a gunshot wound to the neck. Newly unveiled court filings reveal what went into the attack. Ten people have been charged in connection with a coordinated attack on a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) facility in Texas that left a police officer with a gunshot wound to the neck, Justice Department officials announced July 8. The group launched the attack on the Prairieland Detention Center outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth area on July 4, according to federal court filings. They dressed in "black military-style clothing" and started by launching fireworks at the facility, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Attackers came wearing body armor, two-way radios and AR-style rifles, prosecutors said. They fired dozens of rounds at the facility and left after covering buildings and cars with graffiti slogans including "traitor" and "ICE Pig." "Make no mistake, this was not a peaceful protest," said Nancy E. Larson, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas where the case was filed. "This was an ambush on federal and local law enforcement officers. This increasing trend of violence against law enforcement will not be tolerated in the Northern District of Texas." The Independence Day attack near Alvarado, Texas comes amid a 700% increase in assaults on immigration agents, according to White House officials. Recent attacks include an accused Tren de Aragua gang member throwing a female ICE agent to the ground and choking her in Nebraska, according to court documents. Attacks on immigration officials also come as President Donald Trump ramps up a mass deportation campaign that has seen masked agents leave suspects terrified around the country. Administration officials say bold tactics are needed to repel what they call an "invasion" of immigrants. An Alvarado Police Department officer was shot in the neck in the attack and flown to a nearby hospital, said the city's police chief Teddy May. He is "recovering nicely," said May, adding he was grateful no one else was hurt. "Sometimes we get lucky and we'll take it," the top cop told USA TODAY. "When you hear someone was treated and released, you can think it must not have been much but I will tell you that was far from the case— that was a substantial wound he received and he was lucky that he could get it taken care of so quickly." The 10 accused in the attack near Alvarado, Texas are: Cameron Arnold; Savannah Batten; Nathan Baumann; Zachary Evetts; Joy Gibson; Bradford Morris; Maricela Rueda; Seth Sikes; Elizabeth Soto; and Ines Soto. They are all Texas residents, court filings show. Charges against them are three counts of attempted murder of a federal officer and three counts of using a firearm in committing a violent crime. Attorneys for the group could not be reached. An attack on Independence Day The attack started at around 10:30 p.m. and ended with attackers firing around 30 rounds at the Alvarado officer called to respond to the scene and two officers working at the federal facility, court filings say. They began by firing fireworks at the facility and spray painting graffiti on at least one building connected to the facility and two cars, according to a federal complaint. Investigators found multiple AR-style rifles on the attackers, two-way radios and a dozen sets of body armor. Authorities believe there were 12 attackers. Alvarado police chief May declined to comment on the investigation into additional assailants. Morris, one of 10 arrested, told police he met the group online and agreed to drive some from Dallas to "make some noise" at the facility, according to the Justice Department. Police also found fliers on the group reading "Fight ICE terror with class war" and "Free all political prisoners," authorities said. They also found a device used to block cell phone signals known as a Faraday bag. The device is "commonly used by criminal actors to try to prevent law enforcement from tracking location information," court documents say. A Federal Bureau of Investigation search of one of the attackers' apartments uncovered "anti-government propaganda," authorities said. Among the fliers was one titled "Organizing for attack! Insurrection anarchy." "Violence, threats of violence, and attempts of vandalism at our ICE Facilities will not deter our officers at ICE from fulfilling their duties," said Josh Johnson, a director at the immigration agency's Dallas office. "This type of vigilante lawlessness is emblematic of the dangers federal, state, and local law enforcement officials face every day." What to know about the facility? The facility at the center of the attack is located about 40 miles southwest of Dallas and is among the Department of Homeland Security's newest, according to Chavez & Valko, an immigration law firm based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It is one of four immigration detainment facilities in Texas and was built to house over 700 detainees, according to a fact sheet published by the law firm. Immigration officials did not respond to requests to comment. An unprecedented spike in violence The Fourth of July attack in Texas comes as White House officials say there's been a 700% increase in assaults on immigration agents. Administration officials declined to answer USA TODAY's questions about the numbers underlying the increase, including the number of injuries and their severity. However, DHS told FOX News there have been 79 agent assaults since Trump took office, through June 30, compared with 10 assaults during the same period a year ago. Many of the attacks have happened as immigration authorities deploy new tactics to carry out the president's sweeping mass deportation plan, including masked agents detaining people outside Home Depot and immigrants showing up for mandatory court appointments. Policing experts say the aggressive approach is provoking unnecessarily dangerous encounters. Bystander videos have captured agents wrestling suspects to the ground on crowded streets and chasing them through farm fields. One widely circulated video showed an agent grabbing a U.S. citizen by the neck in a Walmart parking lot as he resisted being taken; federal prosecutors charged the man with assault after he allegedly punched an agent. Trump, who has promised to deport 1 million immigrants this year, ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents "to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest mass deportation program in history." Mounting resistance to ICE agents But there's growing pushback from the public. Recent immigration sweeps in the Los Angeles area sparked widespread protests and small riots downtown, as people threw rocks at law enforcement and set patrol vehicles on fire, and federal agents responded with tear gas and pepper spray. In some cases, federal agents are getting into shoving matches with crowds trying to film or stop what they consider to be overzealous detentions, especially when the masked agents refuse to identify themselves. "The aggressive police tactics being employed by the federal government are causing the issue," said longtime police supervisor Diane Goldstein, who now directs the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, which has spent decades working to develop trust between the public and police. She added: "Their direction and their leadership is directly putting them in a horrific situation." Contributing: Lauren Villagran and Trevor Hughes
Indianapolis Star
a day ago
- Indianapolis Star
Mother loses 3 sons to gun violence. Most recently in Indy's downtown mass shooting
Back-to-back calls filed into Xiyya Jackson's cellphone while she was sleeping at her Tennessee home. Family and Indianapolis police started calling about 1:44 a.m. July 5 because they needed to deliver heartbreaking news: her 16-year-old son was gone. Xavion Jackson, the youngest of six, was one of two teens killed during a mass shooting in downtown Indianapolis. Five more people between the ages of 16 and 21 were also injured. 'He said, 'I'm coming home after the Fourth, mama, I promise,'' Xiyya Jackson told IndyStar. 'This is my baby boy, and this is my third kid who has died of gun violence. It's not fair.' The 42-year-old mother of four boys and twin girls lost another son to homicide when he was shot in January 2024 at Stanley Strader Park. His case remains unsolved. Her oldest son was shot and killed in 2021 outside a Waffle House on Pendleton Pike. An arrest was made. Xavion Jackson was pronounced dead at the scene of the mass shooting that has caused city-wide outrage The problem of youth with guns downtown has circulated between City-County Council, Mayor Joe Hogsett, Prosecutor Ryan Mears, law enforcement, and community leaders since the shooting. Parents and guardians have been asked to step up and get better control of their kids, but for Jackson and her family, the noise of now comes a little too late, especially when there's been a family history of violence that has plagued them for generations. A 1992 Indianapolis Recorder news headline reads, 'ex-boyfriend confesses to pre-Thanksgiving killing.' A man told police he became upset while he and Rosa Pearl Jackson, 42, were walking along the edge of a river because she no longer wanted to be with him. He confessed to choking and leaving her to drown. Her body was found in 1993. That was Xiyya Jackson's mother. She was 10 years old at the time. Years later, that type of fatal generational trauma would plague her again when she got into a decade-long relationship with a man who would father some of her children. 'I killed their dad,' Jackson told IndyStar. 'I was a victim of domestic violence. I was defending myself from their father and murdered him.' Jackson shot Vincent Lanking Sr. at a Budget 8 Inn motel in March of 2017. She would sit in jail for a year and a half until being found not guilty of voluntary manslaughter and aggravated battery in 2018. She wrote a book about the ordeal called No Vacancy: My Story of Domestic Violence, Murder, and the Children Caught in the Crossfire. 'The day after I was released from jail, my sister was stabbed over 50 times,' Jackson said. On Aug. 19, 2018, Vickie Jackson, 45, was stabbed with a broken wine bottle by another woman during a fight, according to court documents. Surveillance footage captured the killing in an apartment hallway on the north side. Her oldest son, Robert Howard Jr., 22, was shot and killed in 2021 following a dispute in the Waffle House parking lot on Pendleton Pike. After he died, she moved to Tennessee and hoped the change would be better for her remaining children. 'But my boys kept running back to Indianapolis,' Jackson said. 'They said Tennessee was lame, and they wanted to be with their friends, plus we still had family in Indy. There were times when they'd just up and leave, and I had no idea where they were.' Police reports reveal Jackson made numerous runaway reports from 2019 to 2023. When the kids were found, police would bring them back across state lines to their mother. Her other son, Rondre Jackson, 19, was shot and killed in a neighborhood near Keystone Avenue and Stanley Strader Park in 2024. Xiyya Jackson believes one of his friends set him up, but police have released few details and no arrests have been announced. 'I'm just here. I'm trying to get some strength,' Jackson said. 'I feel empty. I just don't understand why this keeps happening to me. I wasn't hard enough on them.' Brother and son, Robert Howard Jr.: Man dead in shooting following 'disturbance' at Lawrence Waffle House parking lot Aunt and sister, Vicki Jackson: Woman arrested in fatal stabbing on north side of Indianapolis, IMPD says Her remaining son, the namesake of the man she killed eight years ago, was with his brother downtown. The 17-year-old was arrested along with three other teens and charged with dangerous possession of a firearm, resisting law enforcement, and obstruction of justice. Vincent Lanking Jr. was waived to adult court on July 8. 'We don't even know what happened. I've heard so many stories, and it was just a big mess downtown. We have to see and review the cameras,' Jackson said. She'd let them visit Indianapolis to be with her goddaughter and enjoy the holiday. 'One story I heard is that Xavion was hit by a stray bullet,' Jackson said. A probable cause affidavit for Lanking's arrest reveals that 20 minutes before the mass shooting on July 5, Indianapolis police officer Christopher Kaleel noticed the teen in all black clothing, with black gloves, and stopped him for looking suspicious. Lanking started running, and while pursuing, Kaleel watched him pull out a tan Glock 19X from around his waist. The officer thought the teen was drawing the handgun to use against police and ordered him to drop it while pointing his department-issued firearm during the chase. Lanking threw the gun into the air, tossing it aside, and Kaleel took him to the ground to place him into custody. Kaleel said he called the teen's mother, but said she was uncooperative and did not provide any additional necessary information. 'There's no point in going to get him now, so we're leaving him in there,' Jackson told IndyStar of her jailed son before he was waived to adult court. Jackson acknowledges that her boys have been affected by a lot of the choices she made. She knows that their father's death and her incarceration caused trauma. While others ponder the issue of kids roaming the streets with guns, she is getting ready to bury another son while facing criticism for the decisions they made and the outcome it's caused. Beyond the reality of his death, Jackson said her youngest son was a happy kid who loved music. 'Sometimes I'm shaking, and then the emotions come up, but then I'm just empty,' Jackson.
