Man shot by police is identified
Man shot by police is identified
From IndyStar.com
Quote:
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers early today fatally shot an Indianapolis man who had pointed a gun at them, according to an IMPD news release.
The incident happened about 2 a.m. in the 800 block of West 29th Street.
Investigators this afternoon identified the man as 30-year-old Travis Hardley.
Police were dispatched to the address on reports of shots fired and an unidentified man on the ground.
The first officer on the scene found the man lying near a house with a gun in his hand.
"Officers immediately ordered the subject to drop the weapon but the subject refused,'' said IMPD spokesman Kendale Adams. "The subject instead attempted to rise up and pointed the gun at officers. Officers, fearing for their safety, fired at the subject, subsequently striking and killing him.''
In a news release later Saturday, Adams added:
"Investigators have revealed that when the first arriving officer got within approximately 15 feet of the suspect, he observed a handgun in the suspect’s right hand. The officer screamed for the suspect to drop the weapon; however the suspect ignored the officer’s commands.
"The officer had no tactical coverage and was made visible by an overhead street light. With his weapon out, the officer sought cover and radioed for additional assistance from other officers.
"When two additional officers arrived as backup, the suspect was still armed. All three officers slowly approached the suspect and repeatedly screamed for him to drop the weapon. The suspect refused and turned the weapon toward the officers. Two of the three officers were in the direct path of the suspect’s weapon.
"Fearing for their own lives, the officers were forced to fire their duty weapons, hitting the suspect numerous times.''
Adams added that police recovered a 9 mm handgun and found under Hardley's body a bag containing suspected narcotics.
The officers involved in the shooting will be on administrative leave, a standard move after such shootings, pending a departmental investigation.
