Fleeing suspect dead, wanted man arrested after police shooting near Ruskin Place, Mitchner Avenue
Latest: The Marion County Coroner’s Office identified the male who was shot and killed during Friday’s police shooting as 31-year-old Leandre Houston. The headline and story were corrected to give the correct location of the police shooting.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A male suspect was dead and a man was in police custody after a police shooting Friday at Ruskin Place and North Mitchner Avenue.
Shortly before 5 p.m. Friday, officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department attempted to stop a vehicle 38th Street and Richardt Avenue. The driver was 30-year-old Demarqus Whitley, who had an active warrant for theft-when property stolen is a firearm, unlawful carrying of a handgun with a prior felony conviction, and unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle. Detectives were specifically looking for Whitley as a suspect in an investigation of guns being stolen from vehicles in the Broad Ripple area.
Whitley stopped briefly before driving away. Officer initiated a vehicle pursuit that ended near the intersection of Ruskin Place and North Mitchner Avenue when Whitley got out of the car as it was moving. Whitley and a male passenger ran from the vehicle.
IMPD officers chased the passenger suspect southbound. The passenger pulled an object from his waistband area, jumped a fence, and at some point, a police shooting occurred, resulting in the passenger suspect being shot. Officers located a firearm with the suspect and provided him with medical aid. The passenger suspect was transported to Methodist Hospital in critical condition, where he later died.
Officers located Whitley under a truck in the 7600 block of Ruskin Place. He was taken into custody without incident and transported to Methodist Hospital for a complaint of an eye injury.
Whitley was arrested for his warrant and new charges, including two counts of resisting law enforcement and one count of operating a vehicle having never received a license. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office will make the final charging decision on Whitley.
No officers or uninvolved citizens were injured during this incident. Detectives said there is no on-going threat to the community. The officer involved was equipped with body-worn cameras during this incident. Additional officers involved in the incident also had body-worn cameras that were activated, but the additional officers were not at the exact location of the officer-involved shooting when it occurred.
The officer who fired his firearm was place on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in a police shooting investigation.
