Taco Bell shootout leaves 1 dead, 1 hospitalized

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — This story has been updated to include the names of two of the shooting victims.

Two died and two others were wounded in separate shootings early Saturday morning, including one police called a “running gun battle” that ended up at Taco Bell.

According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the most recent shooting happened just before 3:30 a.m. at the Taco Bell at 951 Indiana Ave. That’s just a few blocks north of Indiana University Indianapolis.

Two vehicles locked in a running gun battle ended up in the Taco Bell parking lot. People inside the vehicles fired several shots at each other, blowing out several windows of the restaurant.

“Bullets flying and Taco Bell windows got caught in the crossfire,” the restaurant’s Day Shift Manager said. He says the night shift manager called 911. There were about four or five employees inside the Taco Bell at the time, all of which were unharmed.

“Everyone got to leave out of here safe … we can fix some windows, we can’t fix when greater things happen,” the manager said. “The outcome could have been a lot worse so I’m thankful that my employees here were safe.”

Two people suffered gunshot wounds, a man and a woman. The man died shortly after arriving at a hospital; he was later identified by the county coroner’s office as 28-year-old Charles Lovelady Jr.

The female was listed in stable condition at Eskenazi Hospital.

The shooting prompted several emergency messages to be sent to IU Indianapolis students.

The first message was sent just after 3:45 a.m.

“A dangerous situation is occurring near 10th and University Blvd. Avoid the area and call 911 with information.”

Another message, sent about 30 minutes later, said police were seeking a person in a red truck.

News 8’s Kyla Russell asked two IU Indianapolis freshman who live near the area what they thought about the violence.

An emergency message sent to IU Indianapolis students (WISH Photo)

“I haven’t lived here for a long time but I haven’t seen many violent crimes happening around in this area at all,” one student said.

“Yeah, I would say the same thing,” another student said. “We get notifications from a school if anything bad is happening we only got in like two since we’ve been here.”

Another shooting was reported at 3:15 a.m. Officers were called to investigate a person shot at St. Francis Hospital at 8111 S. Emerson Ave. There, they located a victim injured from a gunshot. They were in stable condition.

IMPD says officers believe the shooting originally happened in the 3500 block of Madison Avenue, which is a business area on the south side.

Saturday’s first shooting broke out around 2:45 a.m. in the 5500 block of Scarlet Drive. That’s at the Greystone Village Apartments off West 34th Street and Moller Road on the northwest side.

Online police reports show IMPD officers were dispatched to investigate a loud party, but they later arrived and located a man shot. He unfortunately died at the scene.

The Marion County Coroner’s Office on Tuesday identified the man shot and killed on Scarlet Drive as 56-year-old Christopher Rockingham. His death was ruled a homicide.

IMPD has not shared what led up to the earlier shootings. They have not named any suspects.

News 8’s Kyla Russell contributed to this report.