Duty Death: Breann Leath - [Indianapolis]
End of Service: 09/04/2020
Ryan Martin
Indianapolis Star
INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis police officer was fatally shot this afternoon at an apartment complex in the area of 21st Street and North Franklin Road on the east side.
Officer Breann Leath and two other officers responding to a domestic disturbance call shortly before 3 p.m.approached an apartment, and shots were fired “through the structure,” IMPD Chief Randal Taylor said.
Leath and a female shooting victim were taken to hospitals, police said later Thursday during a news conference at Eskanazi Hospital. Police said Leath died from her injuries.
At least 30 police cars crowded into the area near the apartment Thursday afternoon. They were stacked side by side to block travel into parts of the complex and atop grassy medians that ran perpendicular to the apartment buildings.
Investigators hung crime tape alongside one building.
Few people were seen walking along the sidewalks or driving on the roads amid the apartment complex, but a few residents took to their balconies to watch officers hustle in and out of the area.
Chris Bailey, assistant chief for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, gave few details during an initial press briefing at the scene. He did not say whether officers had fired their weapons.
He did not take questions during the one-minute update, instead rushing back to the crime scene alongside a team of other IMPD officers as a reporter shouted a question.
Elsewhere, in light of the police shooting, IU Health canceled plans to present a public “thank you” to health care workers with lights and sirens this evening.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with those involved,” IU spokeswoman Beth Resner said.