INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (July 27, 2015) — Detectives are releasing more information about a fight that ended with metro police officers opening fire and five people shot.
The incident happened Sunday around 1:15 a.m. at the Tyler Apartments on Milburn Street at Indiana Avenue, just off the IUPUI campus downtown. All five people who were shot have been treated and released from the hospital.
Detectives believe the fight started when a few women got into an argument about a possibly stolen cell phone. From there, the fight spread, involving others and spilling into a hallway. Police say about a hundred people from two separate parties got into it and at some point shots were fired. By the time officers got there, they say someone started shooting in their direction, and police fired back. The officers were not hurt.
People who live inside the apartment complex say it’s shocking to hear about people who are armed at parties in their building.
“That’s definitely scary, especially that they have guns,” said resident Kara Huster.
“That makes me uncomfortable,” Huster said.
Police say the people with guns escaped. But later, three men — who’d been shot — showed up at Eskenazi Hospital in a car. Detectives believe those men were involved, but say it’s still unclear if they were shot by officers or during the initial gunfire. Police are calling them “persons of interest” and say they did find a handgun inside that car.
Detectives also recovered two handguns in the hallway at the Tyler Apartments. So far, no arrests have been made.
Police are familiar with the Tyler Apartment Building. This month alone, officers have been sent to the building on at least four different occasions. On July 7, police responded to a call of vandalism to a patio door. Then, another response to vandalism — this one two days later, when someone reported their car’s windshield was smashed. On July 12, a woman said she was attacked by several people at a party, suffering minor injuries. Last weekend, there was a report of a theft from an apartment in the early morning hours on Sunday.