INDIANAPOLIS — A federal grand jury indicted an Indianapolis man who allegedly fired a gun into a crowd while he was on federal property last year during downtown protests, prosecutors said Friday.
Tyrone Ross, 29, is charged with being a felon in possession of a handgun. According to the indictment, Federal Protective Services cameras captured video of a group of approximately seven people who gathered at 11:15 p.m. May 30 at the corner of the Birch Bayh Federal Building on Ohio Street.
The group began to walk west on the north side of Ohio Street when Ross allegedly pulled out a firearm from under his clothing and fired at least four shots across Ohio Street towards the Yolk Restaurant on the other side.
Prosecutors said Ohio Street was filled with pedestrians and vehicles when the incident took place. After the shots were fired, cameras showed the other members of the group running west as other pedestrians took off in different directions.
According to the indictment, Ross began running and caught up with the original group as they ran toward the southwest corner of the federal building at Ohio and Meridian Streets. Ross was still on federal property when he allegedly raised the handgun straight in the air and fired at least one additional round.
The incident took place during a weekend in which two people were killed, several were injured and dozens were arrested while protests and riots took place soon after the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Dreasjon Reed in Indianapolis.
“Randomly shooting a gun across a busy street and crowded sidewalk at any time is senseless and reckless,” acting U.S. Attorney John E. Childress said. “This type of behavior cannot be justified or tolerated in a civil society and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Ross faces a maximum 10 years in prison, $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release if convicted.
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