TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — A man died from injuries sustained in an officer-involved shooting after Terre Haute police reported he threatened employees in a storage building, engaged negotiators for more than two hours and allegedly pointed a firearm at officers Tuesday morning, according to Indiana State Police.
Around 7 a.m. on July 25, Terre Haute police officers responded to the 1300 block of Fruitridge Avenue, near Maple Avenue, on a report of a man in a storage building who was making verbal threats and pointing a firearm at employees.
Upon finding the suspect, later identified as 34-year-old Christopher W. Fortin, of Terre Haute, in a storage building and seeing that Fortin did have a handgun, officers began "giving loud verbal commands for the suspect to put down the weapon and exit the building," according to police.
Fortin allegedly did not comply, and a perimeter was established around the storage building.
The Terre Haute Police Department Special Response Team and negotiators then responded to the scene, although negotiators trying to make contact with Fortin for approximately two hours were unsuccessful.
Police said Fortin then exited the building on the south side and then pointed a firearm toward officers.
Two officers, later identified as Patrolmans David Pounds and Adam Neese, gave verbal commands for the suspect to drop the firearm, according to police, but the "commands were disregarded."
Both Pounds and Neese then fired their police-issued weapons at the subject, resulting in the subject being shot.
Police provided medical assistance to Fortin at the scene before he was taken to a hospital in Terre Haute, where he died from his injuries.
An autopsy has been scheduled by the Vigo County Coroner’s Office.
Pounds and Neese, who have five years and four years of service, respectively, have been placed on administrative leave, per department protocol.
Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modesitt has requested detectives from the Indiana State Police Putnamville Post to investigate the incident, according to police.