Indianapolis police are investigating a mass shooting that left five people dead and the baby of a pregnant woman and a community facing what the mayor called “an act of evil.”
Authorities provided little information about the victims or the motive, but said the FBI and federal prosecutors had been alerted.
“I want officials to know that all the power of local, state and federal law enforcement will come for them as I speak,” Mayor Joe Hogsett said.
“Come for them today, come for them tonight, come for them tomorrow and the day after.”
Police said the mass murder took place before 4am on Sunday. Police were called to report a child shot in the street. As the victim was taken to hospital in critical condition, investigators went to a nearby home where they found the shot dead.
Among the killings was a pregnant woman who was rushed to hospital, but she and her unborn child could not be rescued, police said in an information session in the afternoon.
No reason was given for the worst shooting in the city in more than a decade, but authorities said it was not a random act.
“I want to be very clear about something: what happened this morning was not an act of simple armed violence,” the mayor said. “What has happened this morning has been a mass murder, an election of one or more people to bring terrorism to our community and I do not use those words lightly.”
While officials were asking for advice to lead them to the culprit, Hogsett said police would track if there were guns involved in the incident and hold vendors accountable and also arrest anyone who housed the shooter.
“We will not stop until someone complicit in this act of violence is held fully responsible,” he said.