Residents demand answers after off-duty Anderson cop's shootout in Indy neighborhood
Many neighbors heard the gunshots, but Nancy Michael saw everything.
She always makes a cup of coffee and watches the sunrise from the floor-to-ceiling windows inside her Woodruff Place home. The light was starting to come over the trees in her neighborhood when a "reddish car" came speeding down the street. Then she saw a pickup trying to hit it. She also noticed a black car.
The first vehicle she saw spun around, went into the air, and landed in her neighbor's front yard, across the street, breaking an iron fence.
"At that point, they had started to shoot," Michael told IndyStar. "I didn't know who was who or what was what."
Michael called 911 as two guys came down the street with semi-automatic guns. One of them had a face mask on.
"They were running toward the red car. Shots were going back and forth. The other guys in the red car leaped out and ran across the yard," she said.
One of the bullets struck a child's bedroom nearby.
Michael would later learn that one of the men she saw coming down the street was an off-duty Anderson police officer. He was with his brother-in-law, trying to retrieve his stolen personal vehicle.
"The guy kept saying, 'I'm with the police, I'm with the police,'" Michael said. "I don't know why they would be wearing a mask. I don't know why they would not have called the IMPD to help in a chase, and I don't know why they would be carrying those guns. I don't think that's what Anderson's department issues."
She, along with other neighbors, had those questions and many more. The shooting happened early in the morning, and by late evening, more than two dozen Woodruff Place residents gathered at her home to hear from Larry Craciunoiu, the assigned Indianapolis Metropolitan Police detective covering the case.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police responded to the 911 calls in the 600 block of Woodruff Place West Drive about 6:30 a.m. on May 19. They initially reported that the Anderson officer was believed to have been grazed by a bullet, but after being taken to a hospital in stable condition, they learned he wasn't shot.
The off-duty officer had actually fallen, Craciunoiu, who is a part of IMPD's Critical Incident Response Team that investigates anything involving a police officer, told Woodruff Place residents.
Officers quickly determined that two suspects had run from the stolen vehicle. A perimeter was set up around the area as officers, the K-9 Unit, and a drone began searching the area for the suspects.
Arsenal Tech High School and H.L. Harshman Middle School were placed on lockdown.
The Anderson police officer, who lives in Indianapolis, had reported his Dodge Challenger stolen about 5 a.m., Craciunoiu said. The vehicle had a tracking device, so the officer and his brother-in-law went searching for the vehicle.
When asked by residents if the officer called Indianapolis police when the car was located, the detective said no.
Craciunoiu is investigating the criminal side of what happened with the shooting and car theft and asked residents to share evidence they may have, such as surveillance video.
The vehicles involved were a maroon Dodge Challenger, a gray Dodge 2500 Ram pickup, and a black Mercedes-AMG.
The Challenger was the stolen personal vehicle that belonged to the officer. The Mercedes is what he was driving to find it, and the pickup belonged to his brother-in-law.
No one was hurt besides the officer falling. It's unclear who fired the shot that went into the child's bedroom.
He fell: Anderson officer hurt trying to recover stolen vehicle near Arsenal Tech
Many residents said they have children in the neighborhood who were getting ready for school, and people were getting ready for work before the shooting. Jack Jackson was asleep when he heard a large crash.
"At first I thought, 'A garbage truck?' But it's not Thursday," Jackson told IndyStar. "Then we heard the gunshots, and that's when it got really scary. I could look out the window from upstairs and see some interaction. I could see the car in my yard, and I was on the phone calling 911."
His iron fence was damaged by the maroon Dodge Challenger.
"Fences can be repaired," Jackson said. "Neighbors are pretty upset, though. The car was stolen, and that's clearly wrong, but an off-duty, out-of-county police officer trying to retrieve his own car, and all of this erupted in a quiet neighborhood while people were getting ready for work and school. That's just not right."
Indianapolis police said their initial investigation indicates shots were fired by the off-duty officer and the suspects before they crashed the Dodge and ran away. Three firearms were taken into evidence in the case.
The Anderson Police Department would not confirm with IndyStar if the off-duty officer would be facing any disciplinary action or if they're conducting an internal investigation.
Both of the auto theft suspects remain at large.
Anyone with information about this incident can reach Detective Larry Craciunoiu at 317-327-3475 or by email at Larry.Craciunoiu@indy.gov. You can call Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317.262.8477 or (TIPS) to remain anonymous.
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