African American Charles Lemon, a 25-year-old male resident of Indianapolis, Indiana, became the victim of a violent double homicide that occurred in the final weeks of 2018. On the night of December 19, 2018, just prior to the stroke of midnight, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to reports of gunfire on the city's northeast side.
Upon arriving at the scene in the 3100 block of North Riley Avenue, near the intersection of Emerson Avenue and East 32nd Street, first responders discovered a vehicle containing two unresponsive individuals.
Lemon was found alongside another 25-year-old man named Johnny Coleman. Both men had sustained multiple gunshot wounds while inside the car. Despite the rapid arrival of emergency personnel—aided by an officer who had been in the vicinity when the shots rang out—neither victim survived the attack, and both were pronounced dead at the scene. The Marion County Coroner’s Office subsequently determined that the cause of death for both Lemon and Coleman was multiple gunshot wounds, ruling the deaths as homicides.
The investigation into the shooting faced significant hurdles from the outset. Detectives canvassed the area and sought information from the public, but the case quickly grew cold due to a lack of leads. In the years following the incident, reports indicated that no suspects had been publicly identified, and no arrests had been made in connection with the murders. The motive for the shooting remained unclear, leaving the double homicide as an unresolved case in the Indianapolis area. Family and friends were left to mourn the untimely loss of Lemon, whose life was cut short during a particularly violent year for the city.
