An Indianapolis city council member said he awoke early Monday morning to the sound of gunshots as an attacker fired into his home and left a note at his doorstep that read “No data centers.”
Ron Gibson, who last week backed a divisive plan to build a data center in his district, said in a statement that the attack was “deeply unsettling.”
No one was hurt in the shooting, he said, but the bullets pierced his door and landed inside his home, steps away from the dining room table where his 8-year-old son plays, according to his statement.
“This was not just an attack on my home, but endangered my child and disrupted the safety of our entire neighborhood,” Gibson said.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department did not share details about a suspect or motive but said it believed the shooting was an “isolated, targeted incident.” The FBI is assisting with the investigation, the department said.
Maggie Lewis, the city council president, said in a statement that the council is “deeply disturbed and heartbroken” and that the shooting and message were “an alarming and unacceptable escalation.”
Rep. André Carson (D-Indiana) said on X that “nobody has the right to threaten or hurt those we disagree with.”
“I’m relieved to hear that Councilor Ron Gibson and his son are uninjured, but this kind of incident leaves lasting scars, particularly for a child,” he said.
Data centers, warehouses of computing power used to fuel the development of the artificial intelligence industry, have become a lightning rod for controversy in cities across the country. Tech companies and members of the Trump administration have said the centers are vital for keeping pace in the global race to improve AI. But the large, energy-hungry facilities have prompted emphatic grassroots pushback.
Community members have packed town halls and organized protests against data centers from Maryland to Missouri to Oklahoma. Developers sued a town in Michigan last year over a zoning decision that blocked a proposed data center. Moratoriums on data centers have been proposed in towns, in states and at the federal level. Members of Maine’s House of Representatives on Monday voted to block most data centers in that state until November 2027.
Gibson, who represents Indianapolis’s 8th District, has been at the center of his city’s data center controversy. Residents of Martindale-Brightwood, a historically Black neighborhood in his district, have protested for months against a proposal by Los Angeles-based developer Metrobloks to build a data center in their community. Gibson has spoken in support of the development.
Local organizers have raised fears that the environmental impacts of the proposed facility could set back a neighborhood that previously suffered pollution from industrial developments such as a lead facility, local news station WFYI reported.
Metrobloks did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. Metrobloks CEO Ernest Popescu told WTHR that the company has conducted a noise study and proposed a soil management plan to address concerns about environmental effects, and that the development would bring jobs and tax revenue to the community.
Residents packed a meeting of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Development Commission on Wednesday to protest ahead of a vote to approve a rezoning that would facilitate the construction of the data center.
At the meeting, Gibson said that the development would utilize a plot of land in his district that has sat vacant for several years and that he would not support the data center if he thought it would disadvantage the community. The development would bring around $22 million in investment to Martindale-Brightwood, he said.
Some attendants jeered, saying “Lies,” as Gibson spoke.
The commission voted 6-2 to approve the rezoning, prompting the audience to erupt in boos and some insults toward Gibson. In Gibson’s statement Monday, he decried the shooting as a response to his stance on the data center.
“I understand that public service can bring strong opinions and disagreement, but violence is never the answer, especially when it puts families at risk,” he said.
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