Steven Dodd, 48, a White man from Indianapolis, was killed late on December 21, 2016, when violence came to his doorstep on the city’s east side. Just before midnight, police were called to the 1500 block of Gladstone Avenue after reports of a person down, and they arrived to find him mortally wounded from a gunshot to the chest.
Investigators said the shooting began with something as ordinary as a knock at the door.
They believed Dodd had gone to answer it and was shot as soon as the door opened, a brief, brutal encounter that ended before he could get away or call for help.
In the first hours after the gunfire, there was little for detectives to hold onto besides what neighbors and witnesses could offer. Witnesses told police they saw two people run south from the scene, a fleeting glimpse of movement disappearing into the night as officers tried to piece together what had happened inside and just outside the home.
The killing landed in a grim moment for the city: Dodd’s death was reported as the one that pushed Indianapolis to a new homicide high for 2016, adding weight to a case that was already haunting in its simplicity and speed.
More than a year and a half later, police announced a break. On August 3, 2018, Indianapolis investigators said they had arrested Vincent Love, 22, in connection with the shooting, and that he faced preliminary charges of murder and serious violent felon in possession of a firearm. Authorities said Love was already being held in the Marion County Jail on an unrelated case when the arrest in Dodd’s death was made public.
