Johnny Purchase, 60, was fatally shot on the afternoon of January 12, 2021, while canvassing on the near east side of Indianapolis. Known to residents as Mr. Johnny, he worked as a youth success coach at the Edna Martin Christian Center and was carrying flyers and sharing information about programs for at-risk teenagers near 25th Street and Keystone Avenue. Witnesses and police say he was standing on a porch in the 2400 block of Hillside Avenue when shots rang out; he was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital and died later that day.

Investigators have said they believe Purchase was an innocent victim of mistaken identity, that the shooter inside the residence or nearby had been expecting a confrontation with another person. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department had not identified a specific suspect and no arrests were announced soon after the shooting; the case remained unsolved and authorities asked anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.

Does anyone in the neighborhood remember seeing Mr. Johnny that afternoon or have information about the people inside that house?