20th anniversary of Officer Jake Laird’s passing

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — In the early hours of Aug. 18, 2004, a gunman killed Indianapolis Police Department Officer Jake Laird.

Police say the gunman had been stalking a south side neighborhood.

That previous January, the gunman had been hospitalized for mental health issues, and, at that time, police briefly confiscated his nine guns — two classified as assault-style, and two semiautomatics — as well as 227 rounds of ammunition.

Then the police had to give them all back.

WISH-TV takes a look back at the story as part of its 70th anniversary in 2024.

This story was created from a script aired on WISH-TV. Watch the story in the video player above.