Police: Man in gunbattle with Greenwood officers shot brother’s fiancee, lied about IDOC job

GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) – Police in Greenwood were involved in a shooting Monday morning, according to the Greenwood Police Department.

The department said the incident happened in the 300 block of Legacy Boulevard around 10:30 Monday morning.

Officers responded to the area on a report of a person shot. Shortly after they arrived, Randy A. Sutt, 43, exited his residence and fired at officers. Sutt and officers briefly exchanged gunfire before going back inside the house. A few minutes later, officers saw Sutt pointing a firearm at them through a side window and fired at him. No one was hit during either exchange of gunfire, the department said.

There was a short standoff and a negotiator convinced Sutt to surrender. He was booked into the Johnson County Jail on preliminary charges of attempted murder and criminal recklessness, the department said.

When officers were able to enter the residence, they found a 55-year-old woman unconscious and with a gunshot to the head. The woman, identified as 55-year-old Cecelia Cooper Laverne Babcock, was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital in critical condition. She died on Monday evening.

Police initially reported that Sutt was a correctional officer at the Plainfield Correctional Institute. In a Monday afternoon news release, the department said that Sutt told officers he was a current corrections officer when he was taken into custody, but the Indiana Department of Correction says that Sutt last worked for them in 2018 and is not currently employed by them.

Investigators said Sutt lived at the home with his brother and his brother’s fiancee, who Sutt shot.

Police told News 8 the suspect was grazed by a bullet when officers returned fire, and he ran back inside the home.

One of the people in the home had tested positive for the coronavirus and all three had been self-isolating in the home.