A man was shot in the leg on Interstate 65 near downtown Indianapolis Thursday night in another example of rising gun violence occurring on the city’s highways, according to Indiana State Police.
Thursday night’s gunfire is the eighth shooting on an interstate in Indianapolis so far in 2023, police said, in what appears to be a continuation of a trend that’s grown in the past couple of years. In January, beloved youth football coach Richard Donnell Hamilton was shot and killed on I-65 near Greenwood. Both Hamilton’s shooting, and Thursday night’s shooting, are said to have stemmed from road rage.
Indiana State Police said the victim in Thursday night’s shooting was driving a white Chrysler about 6:25 p.m. on I-65 southbound, near 21st Street. He was passing a black Nissan Altima when the driver in that car fired at least one round at them. The bullet went through the passenger door, police said, and struck the victim in the leg.
The man who was shot drove himself to the exit near 21st Street to call 911. Emergency medical personnel took him to a hospital. Police said he’s expected to recover.
State police in mid-2021 raised the alarm about a rise in interstate shootings after recording a spike. The city has already nearly matched the number of interstate shootings troopers investigated pre-pandemic. In both 2018 and 2019, troopers investigated nine shootings on Indianapolis-area interstates.