Anthony Rome Harlin Jr., a 35-year-old Black man, was shot on the far east side of Indianapolis on the evening of November 18, 2024, in a burst of violence that unfolded in a place meant for quick stops and ordinary errands. Police were called to the area of East Washington Street near I-465, with early reports centering on the 8700 block and the Phillips 66 gas station at 8734 E. Washington St., where the Washington Food Mart sits beside the pumps.
When officers arrived, they found him suffering from at least one gunshot wound, the kind of injury that turns a routine night into a race against time.
He was rushed to a hospital in critical condition, but he did not survive. The Marion County Coroner’s Office identified him the next day, placing a name and a life story onto what had first been a frantic radio call and a crime-scene perimeter. Those first public accounts left the “why” hanging in the air: what started the confrontation, who raised the gun, and how the moment escalated so quickly in a parking lot lit by storefront signs and canopy lights.
In the immediate aftermath, investigators offered only the outline of what they believed they knew. Police indicated that everyone involved had been identified and described the incident as isolated, yet they did not announce an arrest or publicly name a suspect in the days when attention was highest and answers were most urgently sought. Another report noted that police had not shared a motive or suspect information at that time, leaving the case defined more by what was withheld than by what was confirmed.
Away from the patrol lights and detectives’ interviews, the loss rippled into a family trying to steady itself. A fundraiser organized in his name described three children left without their father and spoke of him as their provider, a detail that reframed the shooting from a single terrible act into a long aftermath that would stretch through school days, holidays, and the quiet gaps where a parent’s presence is usually felt most.
