Indianapolis teen's 'Talking Guns Project' takes honest look at youth gun violence

The first conversation DeCaree Lewis had about a gun was with his mother, Latavia.

He remembers it as more of a lecture. And even at 10 years old, he said he wasn’t scared — it felt like a normal part of his environment.

“This is my gun,” his mother told him. “Don’t go trying to find it or anything.”

Lewis said his upbringing was "fun" but it was hard to ignore his mother’s drug use and other violence within his family.

His mother died of a drug overdose in 2022 when he was 12. Multiple friends and family members were lost to gun violence. Simply put, Lewis is a teen and has endured more than most will in a lifetime. He said hardships come with life but each he's faced has made him a better person.

“I just want to be different,” he said.

'Talking Guns Project' takes honest look at youth gun violence

Allison Luthe said it's unimaginable the number of funerals she's attended for children killed by gun violence during her nearly 10 years as executive director of the Martin Luther King Community Center in Indianapolis.

The first she attended was that of David Lowery Jr. in 2020, a promising 16-year-old in the MLK Center's teen work crew and player on the Indy Steelers youth football team . His death has stayed with her through the years, driving her to work to understand why more Indianapolis teens are carrying guns.

Indianapolis' youth homicide rate tripled between 2016 and 2023, according to a report by the IUPUI O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs . The report states that Black youth are nine times more likely to be a victim of gun violence than white and Hispanic youth. It also points to social media, the prevalence of guns and prior exposure to gun violence as key factors in the increase. The report was conducted in partnership with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

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In 2023, Indianapolis police investigated 25 homicides in which a person 17 years or younger was killed. That number was even higher for Marion County when including three youth homicides handled by Speedway and Lawrence police.

"It's clear we need to get out of this mindset of punishment and control," Luthe said. "Instead we should try listening and centering youth voices."

Over the summer Luthe teamed up with Lewis, an Indianapolis Public Schools student at Crispus Attucks High School, to do just that. The two interviewed 10 Indianapolis teens who were charged with gun crimes in the past five years.

The research, not part of the community center but rather Luthe's American Studies doctoral program dissertation at IU Indianapolis where students are asked to " engage problems and issues significant to contemporary American life ," takes an honest look as to why Indianapolis teenagers carry guns and what can be done about it.

Lewis has known Luthe for six years. When the project was introduced through a casual conversation, he jumped at the opportunity. Lewis remembers the exchange — it was inside the center’s Best Buy Teen Tech Center as he worked on producing music and other videos.

"I just understand because I'm a Black male and I grew up in that poverty," he said. "Guns have impacted my family a lot. Kids and guns just don't go together.”

Interview questions for the project were carefully crafted and explored everything from why the teens carried a gun to the arrest and detention process and what life has been like after their gun charge.

Lewis helped interpret questions and translated slang for Luthe. She said he made her more approachable, as he knew the participants from outside the project.

“This might be his people,” she said. “But it’s not OK. He gets that.”

Participants' answers were then digested into a nearly 11-minute short film created by Lewis. Narration carries viewers through the film that ends with a gut-wrenching 911 call.

'I will never forget that day'

Luthe met Lewis and his mother at the community center when he was 9, on the first day of an after-school program.

“I will never forget that day,” Luthe said. "I still have a picture of him reading in the basement."

She said she was sitting at the front desk and noticed his charisma when he walked in. He was bossing around and playing with friends, full of confidence and not a care in the world.

The community center has supported Lewis over the years when it felt as if those closest to him had let him down and the carefree nature of his life ended, he said.

“When my mother died I feel like I didn’t have a support system,” he said. “My grandmother, she helped me out. But, you know, when I got closer to the MLK Community Center, I felt like I had a support system.”

Lewis has taken advantage of what the center can offer, like its teen work crew and the Tech Center, where he's learned video production skills.

Luthe said she's seen neighborhood teen music videos featuring very adult situations. She hopes the Tech Center offers a more productive avenue for their video production.

“We could either let them make music videos with lots of drugs and alcohol and guns," Luthe said. "Or we can try to make some videos that could make a difference."

Staying out of the way of gun violence

Whether it was toothpaste dried on one participant's cheek during filming or the shooting death of 17-year-old film participant DeVon Robinson Jr ., Luthe's urgency to push the children-with-guns conversation forward was reinforced.

For her, the most surprising result from their research was that most participants saw a 30-day sentence in the juvenile detention center as a slap on the wrist. They viewed their stay as traumatic and said it didn't fix the environment they would have to return to.

Less surprising was that none of the participants had any gun training.

When asked, Lewis said nothing any participant said surprised or was new to him.

“It was all really normal to me, to be honest," he said.

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Even if some kids carry guns, Luthe said, the purpose isn't always to use them. She also said some children are simply victims of their environments.

"It's hard to not do what your environment is doing when you're stuck in a place," one participant in the film said.

For Lewis, the hardest part of the project was being different. Not in what clothes he wears or the food he eats but in the people he associates with and the relationships into which he puts his effort.

“I’m entering a new life,” he tells those who are still searching for the best way to stay out of the way. Staying out of the way for Lewis means focusing on goals and leaving negativity behind, no matter what the environment.

From inside a closet, Talking Guns Project is produced

A lacked stability in his life has plagued Lewis since his mother's death. Home now is a bedroom inside his brother's apartment. It's small, he said, but he's appreciative. It's where he spent his time while editing the film.

During the more than 100 hours of editing, Lewis said sometimes he'd sit on his bed and sift through footage. Other times he'd sit at a desk he squeezed into his closet because it was too big to fit next to his bed.

The film pushes adults to be more intentional in their interactions and connections with youth. Listening is also urged, rather than lecture-based relationships that teeter on a youth's ability to be successful in an unforgiving society. When kids are in trouble they need help the most, Luthe said.

On a recent Wednesday evening, Lewis and Luthe ordered a few pizzas and set out a variety of candy inside a small room at the community center. They would screen the film in front of 11 children and six youth workers to gather feedback. The children pleaded for the film to be shown at their schools.

Luthe said she hopes that two upcoming public screenings, aimed towards policymakers, youth workers and adults, continue the conversation and help push for real change. Though free, an RSVP is required as seating is limited.

So far, Luthe said she's seeing the right people reserve a spot to watch the film, from members of the IMPD to a youth judge, youth therapists and scholars researching the city's youth gun violence.

In completing the editing process, Luthe and Lewis discussed to whom they'd dedicate the film. By text message, the two landed on the same person — Lewis' mother.

"To Latavia Lewis: Without you, we never would have met," a screen reads as the film begins. On its surface, the statement is simple but at its core it speaks deeply to the importance of relationships that, if nurtured, can change the trajectory of someone’s life.

Contact IndyStar photojournalist Mykal McEldowney at 317-790-6991 or mykal.mceldowney@indystar.com. Follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X .

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis teen's 'Talking Guns Project' takes honest look at youth gun violence