IMPD: Suspect critically injured during officer-involved shooting on near east side of Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS — A suspect was critically injured during an officer-involved shooting on the near east side of Indianapolis Sunday afternoon.

According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the incident began around 3:30 p.m. in the 1000 block of North Kealing Avenue. At that time, the driver of a vehicle approached officers and came to an abrupt stop. The driver then exited the car and told officers she was being held at gunpoint.

Soon after the woman exited the vehicle, police issued loud verbal commands, asking the suspect to put his hands up. While he was still in the car, the suspect — who police later identified as an adult male — pointed his gun at officers and one citizen who was not involved in the incident.

In response to the man’s actions, one officer discharged their gun. The suspect was struck by the gunfire.

Even after the suspect had been shot, his standoff with police continued. IMPD reported that officers continued to tell the man to drop the gun he had been pointing during the incident.

Eventually, the same officer who shot the man deployed a taser. Despite having been tased, the suspect was still holding the gun.

The deployment of the taser, however, allowed officers to take the gun from the suspect and pull him out of the car.

IMPD indicated the suspect was transported from the scene to Eskenazi Hospital in critical condition after the shooting. In a media briefing held around 7 p.m. Sunday, police confirmed the man was in critical but stable condition at the hospital.

After an investigation, IMPD determined the suspect had jumped in a woman’s car shortly before she encountered officers. The woman told police the suspect held a gun to her head and told her to drive.

During their investigation of the shooting, police did not obtain any information that indicated the woman knew the suspect before Sunday’s incident.

Per IMPD, no officers or uninvolved citizens were injured during the shooting. The officers at the scene were equipped with body cameras, which were activated while the incident unfolded.

Police do not believe the shooting poses an ongoing threat to the community. Investigators examining the incident are not searching for any additional suspects.

IMPD’s critical incident response and internal affairs teams are also conducting their own separate investigations of the shooting. The critical incident and internal affairs teams will conduct the criminal and administrative investigations, respectively.

A civilian majority use-of-force review board will also complete a review of the incident once any criminal proceedings have been settled. The officer who fired shots during police’s encounter with the suspect has been placed on administrative leave.

IMPD’s victims assistance unit, chaplain’s office and police officer support team also responded to the scene to offer help to officers, detectives, community members and others involved in the incident.

IMPD is asking those with additional information on the shooting to contact detective Michael Duke at (317) 327-3475 or Michael.Duke@indy.gov.

Alternatively, tipsters who wish to remain anonymous can contact Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana by calling (317) 262-8477, using the P3Tips mobile app or visiting www.CrimeTips.org .

Sunday’s incident marked IMPD’s 12th officer-involved shooting of 2024. The agency recorded a record 18 officer-involved shootings in 2023.

At this point last year, IMPD officers had been involved in 14 shootings. The organization is working with an outside research firm to determine why officer-involved shootings are occurring in Indianapolis and what might be causing them.

On Sunday, IMPD Chief Chris Bailey said his agency’s research efforts are ongoing. He added that Sunday’s shooting, however, would have been difficult to prevent.

“It’s pretty cut and dry what happened here,” Bailey said. “Our officers were here on a theft report, and violence came to them. They weren’t making a traffic stop, they weren’t serving a search warrant. They were here trying to help another community member with a theft report when a person pointed a gun at an unknown person and made her drive around, ended here and then pointed the gun, potentially, at that citizen again and an officer, then an officer-involved shooting occurred.

“We are open and transparent, and we have been, that review is underway. But if anybody here or out watching has a solution to prevent what happened here today, I’m all ears because there’s no way in my mind that this could’ve 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.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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