On May 6, 2017, a violent tragedy unfolded in Indianapolis, Indiana, cutting short the life of 18-year-old Dijon Anderson, an African American male with a promising future in athletics. The incident occurred late that Saturday night at a strip mall located near the intersection of West 38th Street and Moller Road. Anderson, a standout football player for Warren Central High School who had already committed to play at Southern Illinois University, was out with friends when gunfire erupted in the
parking lot. The shooting chaos left multiple teenagers injured and immediately claimed the life of another young student at the scene.
While 17-year-old Angel Mejia-Alfaro was pronounced dead shortly after the shots were fired, Anderson was critically wounded and rushed to a local hospital. For over two weeks, he fought for his life in the intensive care unit, drawing support from a community that rallied behind the motto 'Dijon Strong.' Family members, including his mother Christa Frazier and younger brother Jalen, held vigil by his side, hoping he would recover to fulfill his dreams of playing collegiate football. However, on May 23, 2017, Anderson succumbed to his injuries, marking a second heartbreaking loss for the Warren Central community stemming from the same event. A third victim, 19-year-old Darius Moore, survived the attack after suffering gunshot wounds.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department launched a homicide investigation but faced challenges in identifying the perpetrators. Detectives released surveillance images of two persons of interest described as Hispanic males who were seen running from the scene. One individual was depicted wearing a white hoodie and a blue coat with white stripes, while the other wore a dark hoodie with a red shirt. Despite these leads and public pleas from Anderson's grieving family for witnesses to come forward, public records from the years following the incident listed the case as unsolved, with no confirmation of arrests or convictions specifically tied to Anderson's murder. The loss left a void in the local sports community, where Anderson was remembered as a courageous athlete and a role model who had harbored dreams of reaching the NFL.
