A 17-year-old boy was found shot in the leg early Sunday after Indianapolis police were called to a short-term rental on the 1000 block of Harrison Street, where IMPD called at least 15 people from the house after gunfire broke out. The teen was reported stable, but the shooting left bullet holes in a neighboring home, damaged two parked cars and struck a nearby business, rattling a quiet stretch of the Fletcher's Addition neighborhood just blocks from downtown.
Officers Rushed to the Scene Before Dawn
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were dispatched to the short-term rental at 4:22 a.m. Sunday, according to WISH-TV. When they arrived, they found the 17-year-old shot in the leg, and medics and neighbors described him as stable, per the same report. Investigators were still working to identify who fired the weapon, and no arrests had been announced as of Sunday.
Doorbell camera footage captured what appeared to be a teenager standing outside the home holding a handgun, the outlet reported. Gunfire also struck a nearby home, the Lafayette Steel & Aluminum building, a 2021 Nissan Kicks SUV and a 2017 Buick sedan. One woman told the outlet she heard the shots and later found a bullet hole in her own home, while another neighbor discovered a bullet hole in the front of her car.
A Pattern Neighbors Say Started Years Ago
Residents on the block say Sunday's shooting was the third or fourth disturbance tied to the short-term rentals in just the past few months, with problems escalating noticeably this year. The rentals reportedly began operating on the block roughly three years ago, and a June 6 police report from earlier this year cited reckless use of a handgun at the same address, when officers were also sent out for shots fired.
There are three short-term rental homes on the block, and neighbors believe the same people own all three, though a local property management company reportedly handles the listings. Marion County property records list Hunter and Dakota Baisa as the owners of the home where Sunday's shooting occurred, showing they purchased the property in March 2022; the records do not indicate where the Baisas are from.
Indianapolis Can Regulate, But Can't Ban, Short-Term Rentals
Indianapolis has required short-term rental owners to obtain a $150 permit per unit since the city's revised code took effect on January 1, 2025, with the fee charged once and permits renewed annually, according to Indy.gov. The ordinance was designed to build the city's first formal rental registry and give officials emergency contact information for property operators, and it is administered by the city's Department of Business and Neighborhood Services.
Operating an unregistered short-term rental in Indianapolis is a Class C infraction under Indiana law, with fines of up to $500 per unpermitted booking and permit revocation possible after three ordinance violations, per Avalara. Yet state law ties the city's hands on broader restrictions: House Enrolled Act 1035, passed in 2018, bars Indianapolis and other Indiana municipalities from banning short-term rentals outright or capping their number or density in any neighborhood.
That preemption leaves city agencies leaning on residents and 911 calls rather than dedicated monitoring software to catch problem rentals, city officials have acknowledged, as reported by WTHR.
Part of a Wider, Troubling Pattern
Sunday's shooting is not an isolated case. WTHR has also reported a shooting at The Grounds in which IMPD believed a 17-year-old boy was shot and killed during a party. Neighbors and city leaders have repeatedly voiced frustration that the registry has done little to stop the recurring violence.
The neighborhood where Sunday's shooting happened, Fletcher's Addition, sits just a few blocks northeast of the South Split of I-65/I-70 in downtown Indianapolis. It borders Fletcher Place, a 40.5-acre historic district tied to Calvin Fletcher's farm, where he moved in 1839; he sold half in 1853-1854 and moved in 1855. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and is known for its preserved 19th-century Italianate and Queen Anne cottages, according to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis.
Citywide Numbers Trend Down, Even as Local Fears Persist
The Harrison Street shooting comes even as Indianapolis has posted sharp citywide declines in gun violence this year. Non-fatal shootings dropped 38% year-over-year, from 289 incidents and 345 victims in 2025 to 185 incidents and 214 victims so far in 2026, according to WIBC, which also noted IMPD reported a 40% clearance rate for non-fatal shootings this year, well above the national average.
Indianapolis has seen a decline in non-fatal shootings in 2026 compared with 2025.
