He is believed to be 18 or 19 years old.
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“The officer involved was a nine-year veteran of the east district late shift”.
The sketchy details, hindered further by the pre-dawn darkness, led one responding Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officer to shoot the armed homeowner trying to protect his wife, police said.
The Black Lives Matter movement in the USA has drawn attention to the disproportionate number of black Americans who are stopped, searched and shot by police. The man who police said had stolen Williams’ wife’s auto before the shooting remained on the loose Thursday night.
Early on Tuesday in Indianapolis, Carl Williams, 48, was informed by his wife that she had just been carjacked by a man with a rifle.
After Mills and his colleague arrived at the spot, they found a black auto with its headlights on in the front drive. The call ended after four minutes with Williams saying, “Is that him?” Dispatchers attempted to reconnect with him several times to no avail.
Police said in the news conference that, when the officer arrived, he saw the vehicle still there although he’d been told the robber was gone.
Speaking at a press conference, assistant chief of the IMPD Randal Taylor said: “First and foremost this is a tragic incident involving a homeowner attempting to protect his family and the IMPD officers trying to do the same thing”.
Officers were unaware that the black auto still sitting in the driveway when they arrived was actually Williams’ wife’s vehicle.
He was shot once in the stomach and is expected to recover.
“We do tactically approach, we do our best to give a verbal warning any time that we can, but sometimes situations unfold so quickly, and a handgun or a perceived threat are introduced, into that situation that there might not be ample time to give a warning”, Major Richard Riddle said.
Per department policy, IMPD’s Internal Affairs Unit, along with the Critical Incident Response Team, have launched separate investigations into the shooting. Mills has been put on administrative duty pending the investigation.
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Police are searching for a suspect who they say fled and was wearing a red and white jacket and dark ball cap. People with information were asked to call Crime Stoppers of IN at (317) 262.8477 or TIPS.
