Woman stops car near cops, gets out, says male in car was holding her at gunpoint. Suspect points gun at cops, who open fire.
A woman stopped her car near Indianapolis police officers Sunday afternoon, exited the car, and told officers a male in the car had been holding her at gunpoint, the Indianapolis Star reported.
With that, police said the suspect in the car pointed a gun at officers, and one officer shot the suspect, the paper said.
‘If anybody here, or out watching, has a solution to prevent what happened here today, I’m all ears. There’s no way in my mind this could have been prevented other than the person not forcefully taking and kidnapping a woman, forcing her to drive around while a gun was pointed to her head.’
Kendale Adams, deputy chief of criminal investigations, told the Star the incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. in the 1000 block of North Kealing Ave. between 10th and 11th Streets.
Citing preliminary information, the paper said officers were conducting an unrelated theft investigation when an uninvolved vehicle suddenly stopped near them.
Adams said the woman exited the car and told officers she was being held at gunpoint by a male inside the vehicle whom she did not know, the paper said.
An officer at the scene loudly told the male to put his hands up, but the male pointed a handgun toward nearby officers and at least one uninvolved citizen, Adams explained to the paper.
One officer fired his gun, striking the male at least once, before using a taser in an attempt to subdue him, the paper said.
Police ordered the male to drop the gun, but “the suspect was still holding the firearm. Officers then took the firearm out of the suspect’s hand and pulled the suspect out of the car,” Adams added to the Star.
Police said the male received first aid at the scene and was taken to a hospital in critical condition, the paper said, adding that Adams said he was still critical late Sunday but stable.
Adams also told the Star that the woman recalled seeing officers at the location where she stopped her vehicle, which is why she drove the car there and “alerted the officers to the situation.”
The paper said the officer who fired his gun has been placed on administrative leave, per department policy, and internal affairs is investigating. Adams also told the Star that the Civilian Use of Force Review Board will conduct a hearing after the criminal process.
More from the paper:
The shooting comes at a time when IMPD is seeking solutions to reduce the number of officer-involved shootings in Indianapolis after seeing a spike last year. In April, the department announced that the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Policing Institute would review shootings by Indianapolis police officers. There were 17 shootings that year. IMPD Chief Chris Bailey, though, said the North Kealing Avenue incident is “pretty cut and dry.”
“Our officers were here on a thief report and violence came to them,” Bailey told the Star. “They weren’t making a traffic stop. They weren’t serving a search warrant. They were here trying to help another community member.”
Bailey also told the paper, “If anybody here, or out watching, has a solution to prevent what happened here today, I’m all ears. There’s no way in my mind this could have been prevented other than the person not forcefully taking and kidnapping a woman, forcing her to drive around while a gun was pointed to her head.”
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