Police: Woman in Carmel police HQ's lobby threatened to kill officers, employees

CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) — A few minutes before 5 p.m. Friday, Stephanie Abbo stepped into the lobby of the Carmel Police Department headquarters.

A records clerk greeted her. Abbo told him that she wanted to file a complaint.

She also told him she had a gun.

The clerk then asked if Abbo was threatening to use the gun on him.

Abbo replied, ‘Yes.”

News 8 on Tuesday obtained court documents to learn more about the encounter that led Carmel police to evacuate the police headquarters and cordon off the area from the public late Friday afternoon.

Abbo, 48, of Normal, Illinois, appeared to be “emotionally disturbed and frustrated” and “claimed she would shoot Carmel Police Officers and employees with her firearm because of unfavorable interactions with other Police agencies in the past,” the court documents say.

“Furthermore, the accused insisted there be a shootout between her and Officers all while she was recording the interaction on her phone.”

Other officers then became involved in the situation and helped apprehend Abbo. The officers learned she had pepper spray, which she tried unsuccessfully to spray upon being taken into custody shortly before 5:30 p.m.

She did not have a gun.

A Carmel police negotiator, a special weapons and tactics team, and the “Event Response Group” responded, said a news release from the department spokesman. Court documents noted that Abbo was confined in the police headquarters lobby while the building was evacuated of employees and guests.

Abbo was formally charged Monday in Hamilton Superior Court 5 in Noblesville with three felony counts of intimidation, and one felony count of attempt to commit battery against a public safety official. On Tuesday night, she remained in the Hamilton County jail in Noblesville on $100,000 bond.

The police department’s headquarters, which is being renovated, is located off Range Line Road between 116th and 126th streets. That’s near City Hall in a commercial area. Carmel police on social media had warned people to avoid the area during the standoff.

Anyone with information has been asked to call the police at 317-571-2500.