City and county councils consider ordinance on short-term rentals after weekend violence

INDIANAPOLIS — Three separate acts of gun violence at short-term rental properties over the weekend are just one reason city and community leaders are looking to take action against problem properties.

“On Sunday morning I woke up to the sound of three loud gunshots,” Lydia Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson told WRTV she remembers jumping out of bed at the sound of gunfire. Police said the sound came from a man being shot after a fight outside a short-term rental property. Officers said there were dozens of people on the street before the fight.

“I heard four shots, then 10 to 12 more, then I saw a man fall,” said a neighbor who asked not to be identified.

Police said this was one of three incidents involving gunfire at short-term rental properties in Indianapolis this weekend alone.

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“This is not the first time this has happened, but having gun violence two doors down is never an easy feeling,” Wilkinson added.

City and community leaders are hoping to change that. They’re introducing a new proposal to create an online registry to track all short-term rentals in Indianapolis. If passed, landlords would have to apply for a permit every year.

“There’s no database — there’s no way for a neighborhood association, police or fire department to know that a property is a short-term rental,” said Dakota Pawlicki, president of the Fountain Square Neighborhood Association.

This is so that neighbors, like Lydia, don’t have to deal with problems like this anymore.

“It’s a neighborhood, it’s families – we shouldn’t have to deal with gun violence,” Wilkinson concluded.