Sources say house guest was targeted in shooting that left IMPD officer injured

INDIANAPOLIS — There’s a house in the 9200 block of East 36th Street with bullet holes in the wall and the windows. The glass was also shot out of the home’s front door.

Sources tell FOX59 and CBS4 that a guest at that house who was no longer present Friday night may have been the target of a shooting that neighbors described as sounding like a military firefight.

”I hear something that sounds like fireworks going off, and I assumed it was fireworks,” one man told FOX59 and CBS4. “A few minutes later, I hear what sounded like fireworks again.

“First time, it sounded like 15-20 (shots). Second time, it sounded like 15-20.”

As IMPD officers approached the intersection of East 36th and Wittfield Streets at 8:40 p.m. to look at dozens of shell casings that were scattered across the pavement, a gunman opened fire several houses away to the west of their location.

One officer was wounded in the abdomen and arm . IMPD reported he is expected to make a full recovery.

”A man walking down the street said it was his sister’s house that got shot up,” said one neighbor, “and we didn’t know anything about the officer being shot yet.”

A source told FOX59 and CBS4 that the gunman may have targeted a relative of the residents who was suspected of having a disagreement with someone living in the Amber Woods Apartments less than a mile away.

Immediately after the shooting, officers broadcasted the description of a silver Kia vehicle seen speeding away from the location.

Remnants of yellow crime scene tape hang from the downspout of a blue house near where police believe the shooter opened fire.

Neighbors told FOX59 that IMPD detectives have received copies of security video in an attempt to identify the shooter’s vehicle, believed to be a silver Kia sedan.

Utilizing Flock camera technology, IMPD officers spotted that vehicle in the 3400 block of North Mitthoefer Road three hours later.

Following that car east to Franklin Road, then to East 38th Street, officers were unsuccessful in making a traffic stop, leading to a pursuit that reached more than 110 mph before the Kia came to a halt at the Amber Woods Apartments in the 3700 block of North Mitthoefer Road. A passenger and driver bailed out of the car.

The passenger was discovered after exiting a townhome minutes later. A 9mm Glock handgun and an AK47 magazine were also found nearby. The 21-year-old man has been charged with resisting and unlawful entry.

A half-hour later, the 20-year-old driver surrendered in a nearby neighborhood, telling an officer, “I give up.”

A check of Indiana Department of Correction records show that man was released from prison June 26th after serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence for armed robbery out of Jackson County.

He is charged with resisting and reckless driving. He faces an 8:30 a.m. Monday initial court hearing and is subject to a seven-day No Bond hold pending charges of violating probation related to his recent release from IDOC.

His previous arrest, and current parole filing, list an address at the Amber Woods Apartments.

Residents in the neighborhood where the shooting of the IMPD officer occurred recall the recent unsolved murder of a boy at a bus stop, the killing of a toddler sleeping inside a house during a drive-by shooting and the mistaken shootings of two homes on 36th Street.

”It seems like there are shootings over here all the time,” one person said. ”You hear them every night.”

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