Indianapolis Cops Mistakenly Shoot Black Homeowner In The Stomach While Responding To His 911 Call Of A Man Carjacking His Wife (Video)

Video After The Jump

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - The family of a man shot by an Indianapolis Metro Police officer after calling for help is speaking out. He called 911 after someone tried to carjack his wife in their driveway.

The shooting happened just before 5:00 am on the east side in the Hunters Crossing subdivision near 38th Street and German Church Road, at a home off of Foxtail Drive.

When police arrived, the homeowner had already grabbed his gun to protect his family - but an officer ended up shooting him. His family says he went to surgery Tuesday morning. The bullet is still lodged in his stomach.

Indianapolis Metro Police held a news conference Tuesday afternoon to address what happened.

Assistant Chief Randy Taylor called it a "tragic incident involving a homeowner attempting to protect his family and IMPD officers trying to do the same thing. Of course our thoughts and prayers are certainly with the homeowner and the family...and we wish him a quick recovery."

The officer who shot the homeowner is a nine-year veteran.

Timeline:

Around 4:30 am, the homeowner's wife ran back into the house to tell him someone was outside trying to carjack her. Her husband grabbed his own weapon and called 911. The man told police the teen had a rifle and stole the couple's black Nissan Sentra.

"The nearly four-minute call ends with the caller saying, 'is that him?'" Taylor said. Dispatchers' attempts to call the homeowner back were unsuccessful.

A minute later, officers were dispatched to the neighborhood with orders to look for the teenage suspect, dressed in a red shirt and armed with a rifle, and driving the stolen vehicle.

The officers arrived at the home and saw that the Nissan was in the driveway.

"Before the officer could finish relaying the license plate information to communications center, the officers broadcast 'shots fired.' Officers immediately notified communications of a police action shooting and request medics ASAP. The homeowner was shot by an officer one time in the stomach area. The suspect in the original robbery was not captured and is still on the loose. We want to reiterate this was a tragic event with a number of circumstances that collided all at once," Taylor said.

The officer approached quietly with weapons drawn because they believed the suspect might have been nearby. Taylor also said the lack of daylight played a role.

Police found the handgun belonging to the homeowner, but at this point they don't know if the officer saw it because he still hasn't been interviewed. He will be interviewed as part of the investigation.

"He loves his family, he protects his family and that is all he was trying to do is protect his family. He heard his wife in distress and he told her to stay in the house because he wanted to wait for the police. He called the police. He is the one who called the police and he opened up his garage and he just made eye contact and immediately he got shot. No warning, no nothing," said Kamaria Howard, the victim's niece.

Kamaria Howard

Niece of man mistakenly shot by police speaks up about his condition & him being the one who called 911 @WTHRcom pic.twitter.com/ETqYByaoBY
— Steve Jefferson (@scoopjefferson) August 23, 2016

Marion County sheriff's deputies are helping police by canvassing the neighborhood to see if neighbors saw or heard anything.

The incident is under investigation and review by the police department.

"This was a tragic event": Questions still surround an IMPD officer's shooting of a homeowner. https://t.co/vBDJqp70c6
— IndyStar (@indystar) August 23, 2016