A promising business student was shot and killed in a random attack while on his way to meet his parents at a baseball game in Indiana, police said.
Details of the Incident
Brett Scrogahm, 23, was inside a parking garage around 6:00 p.m. Thursday when he was struck by a bullet, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) said. Scrogahm, who was just moments away from enjoying an Indianapolis Indians game at Victory Field, was found suffering from a gunshot wound when officers arrived. The young man was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead on Saturday.
Investigation and Public Appeal
An unidentified person was detained and later released at the scene of the shooting, the police said. Investigators have urged the public to come forward if they know anything related to the deadly shooting, which remains under investigation.
Victim's Background and Tributes
Scrogahm had just graduated from the IU Kelley School of Business, where he was a Top 100 student, according to a GoFundMe page. Tributes poured in following Scrogham's death, including one from Robyn Collier, who said he rescued her dogs during a house fire. 'We are all devastated and heartbroken for his family,' Collier told Fox 59. 'We just can't even fathom what is going on in the world right now needs more Bretts in the world. We don't need more violence,' she added.
Scrogham's good friend and fellow classmate James Wilson said he was a proud, successful student. 'With him being top 100, him getting that was very impressive, and he was very happy to get that,' Wilson told the outlet. 'He potentially saw himself investing in his own low-income housing and rental properties and maybe building some apartments or something like that.'
Community Reaction
Following his death, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett released a statement that read: 'Today, I am saddened to learn of the passing of a victim of last week's random act of violence. Violence anywhere in our community is unacceptable - especially when it claims the life of an innocent person simply enjoying the amenities that make our city great.'
The latest tragedy comes as violence, crime and 'anarchy' have continued to plague the Midwest city in recent years, Indy Star columnist Jeffrey Tompkins wrote in the wake of Scrogahm's death. Tompkins, an urban planner and local to downtown Indianapolis, said the surge in deadly chaos has gotten so out of control that the community now has two options to choose from: anarchy or urbanism. 'We do have to pick one. The cities Americans romanticize, from Tokyo to Paris to New York at its best, are not safe because their residents are gentler people,' Tompkins wrote. 'Far from it. They are safe because crime is not the expectation.'
He went on to mention other recent crimes that left innocent people dead, injured, or just flat out terrified, including when career criminal Demarcus McCloud, 46, set an IndyGo Red Line bus on fire on April 24, 2024. Thankfully, no one was killed after a fast-thinking bus driver pulled over the bus and evacuated everyone onboard safely. McCloud was booked into the county jail more than 46 times before he launched chaos on the city. In July 2025, McCloud was sentenced to eight years in federal prison after pleading guilty to two counts of malicious damage to property receiving federal funds and one count of malicious damage to federal property, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The columnist also mentioned the death of Brandon Breedlove, an Air Force veteran who was run over and killed by a drunk driver in March 2024. The driver, Salvador Banales, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison, followed by four years probation - but only after an Indiana judge ruled he could return to his home state of Texas until his trial. That decision was made on the same day that Breedlove's organs were donated. Banales was sentenced to five-and-a-half years behind bars for Breedlove's death in March 2025.
The Daily Mail contacted the IMPD for comment.
