INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD officers were involved in a shooting on the west side of Indianapolis Thursday.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Southwest District officers responded to the 300 block of South Warman Avenue at around 2:20 p.m. on reports of a person shot.
IMPD officers are on scene of an incident in the 300 block of S Warman Ave. There was an officer-involved shooting. No officers were injured.
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IMPD says officers arrived at the scene in their marked patrol vehicles and shots were fired in their direction as they exited. The shots were captured on their body-worn cameras.
The caller provided IMPD with a suspect description. Officers located the suspect and a foot pursuit ensued.
The adult male suspect was located on the side of a home in the area, IMPD says. Officers used distance and barriers as a safety precaution and ordered the suspect to get on the ground at least twice.
Police say the suspect had a large machete in his hand. One officer yelled out, 'He has a machete' to alert other officers.
As officers continued to give the suspect commands, the suspect allegedly ran towards them with the machete in one hand and a firearm in the other. At this point, IMPD says an officer-involved shooting occurred.
Police say while the suspect was on the ground, he reached for one of the weapons despite verbal commands not to. Another officer discharged his service weapon, striking the suspect.
The suspect was transported to a local hospital in critical condition, where he later died.
IMPD says a firearm and machete were located at the scene.
A short time after the shooting, an adult female was located in a nearby home's backyard suffering from a gunshot injury. She was transported to a local hospital in stable condition.
Investigators believe the suspect shot the victim and then tried to flee the scene. The relationship between the suspect and the victim is not yet known.
IMPD says at least two other individuals told them the suspect pointed a firearm at them before the police's arrival.
No uninvolved community members were injured, and no officers were injured.
The Marion County Coroner's Office will release the suspect's name once his family is notified.
The IMPD Critical Incident Response Team will be overseeing the investigation.
The officers who fired their guns have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in officer-involved shooting investigations.
There were 17 officer-involved shootings in 2023.
Earlier this year, the Department of Justice announced it would conduct an extensive review of police shootings after the sharp spike.
WRTV asked IMPD Chief Chris Bailey about the DOJ investigation.
"I would ask you: is there any other government entity since 2020 and beyond that has consistently changed? Changed their policies, changed their training, changed our transparency, we’re responsive to the community and we will continue to do that," Bailey said.
