Cop shoots fleeing suspect at northwest Indiana shopping center

HIGHLAND, Ind. (AP) — A police officer shot and wounded a shoplifting suspect fleeing in a car outside a northwestern Indiana shopping center Friday afternoon, authorities said.

Two Highland police officers responded to a 911 call from a Kohl’s department store reporting a suspected shoplifter there, Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said.

The officers confronted the suspect, who attempted to flee the parking lot in his vehicle, injuring one officer while the other officer shot the suspect in a hand, Martinez said.

Multiple vehicles appeared to have been struck and damaged, The Times of Northwest Indiana reported.

The injured officer and the suspect were transported to hospitals, Martinez said.

It wasn’t clear how the officer was injured.