‘One person is too many’: Indianapolis youth walk to raise awareness around gun violence impact

Coach Laverna Tracy started pillow talks with her step team earlier this year. It’s a time when all of the girls can get together, open up and be vulnerable, Tracy said.

“I let them share, and let them share wherever it is that they're feeling, ask questions,” Tracy said.

Those conversations started shortly after Deandra – a beloved member of the G3 Steppers – was shot and killed on the south side of the city in early January. She was 14 years old.

“Everybody deals with it (grief) differently, but one thing we can do is think about the good times that we had with her and remember,” Tracy said. “Just hold those memories in our hearts.”

Tracy, who also lost her brother to gun violence, said it was important to be transparent with her dancers and bring them out into the community.

“Gun violence is very real,” Tracy said. “I don't think that teenagers and young people really understand what they're doing when they use them. They're not just impacting the person that you know that they use it on, but the family, all those that are connected to them.”

Young people in Indianapolis  – including the G3 Steppers – came together for the annual Peace Walk this past weekend, marching to raise awareness about the impact of gun violence on youth.

The annual walk, where advocates and community members share resources to combat violence and build up young people, coincides with National Youth Violence Prevention Week.

Throughout the walk, members of the G3 Steppers held up signs for their teammate and shouted her name in chants and cheers while marching the route near the Kennedy-King neighborhood.

Twelve-year-old Serenity, a fellow stepper, said she felt strong when she said Deandra’s name.

“I just said her name, and it was just in me,” Serenity said.

Nine children – one as young as three years old – were killed due to gun violence in 2024, according to data from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

Data this year shows three children under the age of eighteen have died from gunshots, including Deandra.

“One person – period – is too many,” said Tony Lopez, one of the leaders of Indy Peace. “But definitely a person under the age of 18, when we lose them in our city, it hurts.”

Lopez, who focuses on violence reduction as a deputy director for the city’s Office of Public Health and Safety, said he takes his work day-by-day.

“It can change at any moment,” Lopez said. “But when we do things like this, when we do symposiums and forums and things like that, to really get everybody together to talk about it, it's uplifting to see how many people care and how many people want to be a part of the change.”

City officials are continually seeking ways to combat youth violence. In 2021, the City-County Council approved $150 million for a three-year, anti-violence plan that was carried out by various community groups and made possible by pandemic relief money.

Homicides reached a historic peak during the pandemic in 2021, but those rates have slowly decreased to pre-pandemic times. Youth homicides followed that down trend in 2024.

But non-fatal shootings among young people remained prevalent.

This time last year, the IMPD issued a curfew for young people under the age of 18 years old. This came after more than seven young people were injured in a shooting downtown.

Because of access to firearms and accidental shootings, advocates handed out free gun lock boxes for residents who own firearms at the peace walk event.

They also asked everyone who attended to wear (and not take off) a green rubber band with a message they promise to keep – #StandOnPeace.

“So if I'm downtown, if I'm in Castleton, if I'm in Greenwood, if I'm anywhere in the city, and I feel like I'm unsafe, I don't feel like something is going on, and I'm a little uncomfortable, who do I look for,” Kareem Hines said. “Look at somebody with that green band. You know that's a safe space. You could go to that person.”

Hines started the New B.O.Y. program, which focuses on mentorship and empowerment for at-risk youth many of whom are involved in juvenile probation and/or the Department of Child Services. Hines not only asked young people to wear a band but also adults to step up and do the same.

“Sometimes in the city, we talk that talk, but we don't walk that walk,” Hines said “We want to talk it.”

The event was held in partnership with multiple organizations, including the Marion County Youth Violence Prevention Coalition, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Hoosiers Concerned About Gun Violence, and the Indianapolis Foundation.

“We love partnering with them to try and help promote the awareness of gun violence, but then also wrap around our young ones, our youth here in the city, to remind them that we're here for them,” Lopez said. “We're here to hear what they need.”