INDIANAPOLIS — A man is dead and a woman is in critical condition following an officer-involved shooting near Lucas Oil Stadium Friday night.
Just after 9 p.m., Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department SWAT officers were called to a report of an armed robbery of a business in 220 block of South Shelby St.
According to police, they located the suspect vehicle in the 600 block of S. Missouri St. and initiated a "pursuit prevention technique." According to IMPD Public Information Officer William Young, this technique is used to lessen the burden of vehicle pursuits.
"We don't want to be involved in vehicle pursuits because we know that sometimes we've had vehicle pursuits and they haven't ended so well for the public and we want to make sure we protect the public," Young said.
While initiating the prevention technique, the front seat passenger in the suspect vehicle then began firing at officers. Preliminary information suggests three officers returned fire, striking the passenger and the driver.
The officers involved were identified as 21-year veteran Sergeant Jeremy Steward, 27-year veteran Officer Kenneth Kunz, and 5-year veteran Officer Dalton Hair.
The two suspects were both transported to a local hospital in critical condition. The man later died at the hospital. The woman remains in critical condition. No officers were injured. The suspect gun was recovered on the scene.
The deceased male was identified as Ricktez Williams, 27.
Police say there are no other suspects in the area, but there will continue to be a high police presence into the early morning hours.
The shooting occurred just outside Lucas Oil Stadium, but police say there were no events going on at the time of the incident.
Police said multiple body-worn cameras were utilized during this incident, as well as a dash camera that captured a portion of the incident.
The officers involved have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in an officer-involved shooting investigation.
"Our officers did exactly what we want them to do," said Young. "Our SWAT team and our robbery detectives, our officers in general, we are working extremely hard to get those individuals off the streets who are doing armed robberies with firearms and homicide suspects."
Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call Detective Jones at 317-327-3475.
