UPDATE:

The coroner on Tuesday identified the person killed as 37-year-old Melvin Hall Jr.

ORIGINAL STORY:

INDIANAPOLIS — Police are investigating after a person was killed in a shooting on Indy’s east side.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said officers responded to the area of East 24th Street and North Kitley Avenue shortly before Noon Thursday on a report of a person shot. This is near the intersection of East 21st Street and Shadeland Avenue.

One neighbor claims she saw a man standing in the street shooting into the passenger side of a silver car. The suspect then ran away down the street.

Police found the victim dead in the driver’s seat of a car.

“What we know is that when we arrived we found a male inside the vehicle with a gunshot wound. We don’t have any other info to believe there’s any other scenes. We believe it is isolated to this area,” said IMPD officer Samone Burris.

While some neighbors reported hearing gunshots and seeing one possible gunman flee from the scene, those witnesses did not know what sparked the shooting. Police admit the motive so far remains a mystery.

“A community is devastated. A family is devastated. A life has been lost today, taken from our community members. It’s not okay. It will never be okay,” said Burris.

The killing marks the 221st homicide of the year in Indianapolis. With just over two weeks left in the year that number remains the third deadliest year in the city’s history.

For their part, police asked for the public’s help solving this case while also pleading with the community for a peaceful end to the year.

“Gun violence is not the answer to solve anything. Our community members, we want to encourage them to put the weapons down and put the guns down,” said Burris. “Again we want to get this case solved. We want to ensure the family gets justice for the life that was lost today.”

So far no arrests have been made in the case.  Anyone with information can still contact either IMPD’s homicide office or Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS.

Jesse Wells contributed to this report