INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A 21-year-old man wanted on two arrest warrants was in critical condition at a hospital after a gunbattle involving him plus a group of detectives and SWAT officers Tuesday afternoon, police said.
Dispatch information said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department made a traffic stop shortly after 2:55 p.m. Tuesday in the 3100 block of Forest Manor Avenue. That’s in a residential area northeast of the intersection of East 30th Street and North Sherman Drive. According to dispatch information, an ambulance was sent to the scene about three minutes after the traffic stop was recorded.
No officers were hurt in the shooting.
IMPD Assistant Chief Chris Bailey said Crime Gun Intelligence Center detectives and special-weapons-and-tactics officers were tracking the man, who was not identified. He had two open arrest warrants for Community Corrections violations for robbery, Bailey said. The 21-year-old man’s weapon was recovered at the shooting scene, but Bailey would not describe what type of weapon the man fired.
Before the gunbattle, authorities believed the man was armed and “they had been tracking this individual for a period of time,” Bailey said.
Before the gunfire, IMPD stopped a vehicle, driven by a woman, in which the man was a passenger. Police did not say what type of vehicle was involved. After the initial stop, the vehicle then sped off about a half-block, Bailey said, and that’s when officers attempted a “PIT maneuver.” PIT is an acronym for “pursuit intervention technique” in which a pursuing car forces a fleeing car to turn sideways abruptly, causing the driver to stop.
Bailey said the suspect fired shots at officers, and the officers returned fire. He said he knows how many officers fired their weapons but declined to provide details. Bailey said he would not guess how many shots were fired.
The detectives wore body cameras, but the SWAT officers have not yet had cameras added to their uniforms as IMPD is awaiting equipment from a vendor, Bailey said.
IMPD’s critical response team will lead the investigation, and IMPD’s internal affairs will conduct a parallel investigation, Bailey said. Those completed investigations will be reviewed by “the executive staff” and later the “citizen majority firearms review board,” he said.
IMPD authorities said they are not looking for anybody else, and there is no threat to the public.
The woman who was driving the vehicle was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office will decide on any charges as a result of the shooting, Bailey said.
Anyone with information was asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 317-262-8477.
