Beloved business student, 23, shot and killed in horrific random attack in Midwest city that's fast developing reputation for crime and 'anarchy' 55%

By Emma Richter49%

6/1/2026, 9:10:35 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 22 faulty reasoning types, including Anecdotal, Appeal to Emotion, and Availability Heuristic, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 40% saturation with 272 hits. Analysis detected 1,513 faulty-reasoning hits from 680 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 52.7% and a BS Rank of 55% (10,007 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 54.30% of the article peer group.

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. 
Brett Scrogham, 23, was inside a parking garage around 6.00pm Thursday when he was struck by a bullet, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) said. 
Scrogham, 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. 
He was pronounced dead on Saturday. 
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. 
Scrogham 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." 
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 Scrogham'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. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 4.1%Emma Richter: 1.7%Daily Mail: 2.7%Confirmation Bias4.1%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.1%Daily Mail: 0.7%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 12.9%Emma Richter: 3.1%Daily Mail: 2.8%Availability Heuristic12.9%This article: 6.3%Emma Richter: 0.7%Daily Mail: 1.0%Representativeness Heuristic6.3%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.0%Daily Mail: 0.8%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 1.3%Emma Richter: 1.4%Daily Mail: 0.9%Overconfidence Bias1.3%This article: 7.8%Emma Richter: 5.9%Daily Mail: 6.9%Framing Effect7.8%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.2%Daily Mail: 0.4%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.5%Daily Mail: 0.5%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.0%Daily Mail: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 6.0%Emma Richter: 2.5%Daily Mail: 2.1%Optimism Bias6.0%This article: 7.9%Emma Richter: 1.0%Daily Mail: 1.1%Pessimism Bias7.9%This article: 40.0%Emma Richter: 14.9%Daily Mail: 10.9%Negativity Bias40.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 2.0%Daily Mail: 1.8%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 1.0%Daily Mail: 1.1%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.1%Daily Mail: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 1.6%Daily Mail: 1.0%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.7%Daily Mail: 0.5%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 12.1%Emma Richter: 2.0%Daily Mail: 5.0%Halo Effect12.1%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.9%Daily Mail: 0.3%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.0%Daily Mail: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 9.9%Emma Richter: 2.1%Daily Mail: 1.7%Recency Bias9.9%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.0%Daily Mail: 0.4%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.1%Daily Mail: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 1.8%Daily Mail: 1.7%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.5%Daily Mail: 0.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 7.1%Emma Richter: 3.2%Daily Mail: 3.0%Appeal to Authority7.1%This article: 10.4%Emma Richter: 1.3%Daily Mail: 0.9%False Dilemma10.4%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.2%Daily Mail: 0.4%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.0%Daily Mail: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 8.8%Emma Richter: 1.7%Daily Mail: 3.9%Hasty Generalization8.8%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 1.5%Daily Mail: 0.4%Red Herring0.0%This article: 3.1%Emma Richter: 0.2%Daily Mail: 0.8%Bandwagon3.1%This article: 15.3%Emma Richter: 10.2%Daily Mail: 6.5%Appeal to Emotion15.3%This article: 1.0%Emma Richter: 0.2%Daily Mail: 0.5%Begging the Question1.0%This article: 5.9%Emma Richter: 2.1%Daily Mail: 2.6%Post Hoc (False Cause)5.9%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.3%Daily Mail: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.2%Daily Mail: 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.2%Daily Mail: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.0%Daily Mail: 0.1%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 24.6%Emma Richter: 1.7%Daily Mail: 3.1%Anecdotal24.6%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.0%Daily Mail: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 12.4%Emma Richter: 1.9%Daily Mail: 1.6%Ambiguity (Equivocation)12.4%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.0%Daily Mail: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.1%Daily Mail: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.0%Daily Mail: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.1%Daily Mail: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.0%Daily Mail: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 1.9%Daily Mail: 3.3%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 1.8%Daily Mail: 1.7%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 9.1%Emma Richter: 9.5%Daily Mail: 8.9%Biased Writer Voice9.1%This article: 12.8%Emma Richter: 1.7%Daily Mail: 1.0%Indoctrination12.8%This article: 3.7%Emma Richter: 0.9%Daily Mail: 0.2%Politically Left Leaning Bias3.7%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.0%Daily Mail: 0.6%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Emma Richter: 0.1%Daily Mail: 1.2%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

680 words analyzed.

Speakers

7speakers49%attributed speech349writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 22 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 28 words • 0.0% coverageIndianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 0.0% coverageRobyn Collier • 21 words • 0.0% coverageRobyn Collier • 13 words • 100.0% coverageRobyn Collier • 20 words • 0.0% coverageRobyn Collier • 7 words • 100.0% coverageJames Wilson • 15 words • 0.0% coverageJames Wilson • 23 words • 0.0% coverageJames Wilson • 22 words • 0.0% coverageJoe Hogsett • 31 words • 0.0% coverageJoe Hogsett • 27 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 31 words • 100.0% coverageJeffrey Tompkins • 34 words • 100.0% coverageJeffrey Tompkins • 6 words • 100.0% coverageJeffrey Tompkins • 25 words • 100.0% coverageJeffrey Tompkins • 3 words • 0.0% coverageJeffrey Tompkins • 9 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 38 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 0.0% coverageDepartment of Justice (DOJ) • 42 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 36 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 0.0% coverageDaily Mail • 8 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Jeffrey Tompkins

96%flagged-word coverage
77 attributed words23% of attributed speech81% writer coverage
0%27.5%55.0%Indoctrination+51.9 ptsWriter: 0.0%Jeffrey Tompkins: 51.9%51.9%Politically Left Leaning B+32.5 ptsWriter: 0.0%Jeffrey Tompkins: 32.5%32.5%Biased Writer Voice-3.5 ptsWriter: 15.2%Jeffrey Tompkins: 11.7%11.7%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.