EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Body camera video shows a man standing over a woman and two children while pointing a gun at responding officers, leading to an officer-involved shooting.
The scene unfolded on Dec. 22 when Evansville Police Department officers were dispatched to a house for domestic violence in progress, according to the department. The call received by dispatch indicated that the suspect had been abusive in the past and that he had thrown the family’s cat at the victim, police said in a statement. The caller also stated there were young children present in the home, with one of the children telling the dispatcher that their father was “drunk” and possibly in the process of grabbing a firearm.
“At one point the child was on the phone talking about what was happening inside of her home, and officers don’t get to hear that,” Officer Taylor Merriss said during a news conference. “[The officers] just have to react on what they see and observe, and we can’t speak highly enough of these officers and the actions that they took.”
Within four minutes of being dispatched, officers arrived on the scene and saw the suspect inside the house. Shortly after, the front door opened and a young child ran out of the home but then ran back inside, police said. The child’s mother, who was holding a 3-year-old child, was sitting on the ground near the door while the suspect stood behind her, body camera video shows.
“When there’s two children in the home, a mother that’s scared, they called us for help and he’s basically hovering over them, and we can’t retreat,” said Merriss. “We have to go in that home or unfortunately result in the situation that resulted in last night. We have to make sure that people are safe.”
While approaching the house, officers issued verbal commands for the suspect to drop the weapon. Instead of complying, the suspect raised the firearm and aimed it at officers in a firing stance, police said. In response, the officer closest to the suspect took cover while a second officer discharged one round from his duty weapon, striking the suspect.
Officers were then able to safely remove the children and the mother from the house before providing aid to the suspect. EMS arrived shortly after and transported the suspect to a hospital.
The suspect faces charges of domestic battery in the presence of a child, neglect of a dependent and animal cruelty, police said.
