INDIANAPOLIS — Video given to 13News captured from a neighbor's doorbell camera shows the moment police shot a suspect who allegedly carjacked a woman at gunpoint, then forced her to drive around on the east side of Indianapolis in October.
That drive took the woman by some officers she had seen earlier in the day. They were investigating a crime reported earlier in the 1000 block of North Kealing Avenue, near 10th Street and North Sherman Drive, around 3:30 p.m. Oct. 27. That's when she took a chance, stopped her car and got out, she said.
According to police, the woman told officers she was being held at gunpoint by a man she didn't know. IMPD Chief Chris Bailey said his officers were in the right place at the right time.
"It's pretty cut and dry what happened here. Our officers were here on a theft report, and violence came to them," Bailey said.
On Friday, Nov. 15, the Marion County Coroner's Office confirmed 25-year-old Julius Hill died from his injuries in the incident.
In the video, you can hear an officer telling Hill to put his hands up. IMPD says Hill instead pointed a handgun in the direction of nearby officers. Police said that's when an officer fired their weapon, hitting Hill at least once before using a taser on him.
Officers then reportedly took the gun from Hill's hands and removed him from the vehicle. Medics took Hill to a hospital in "critical but stable" condition. The coroner's office said he died Nov. 14.
"It's very emotional any time an officer is involved in an officer-involved shooting. There's a lot of emotions going on in addition to the processes they have to go through when they're involved in a shooting, so you can imagine it's an emotional day for them. It's an emotional day for the victims in this case," IMPD Deputy Chief Kendale Adams said.
It unfolded in the middle of the afternoon, around the time Melissa Smith was making a run to a dollar store a block away. She said she didn't hear the shots but saw the heavy police presence.
"All I seen was everything taped off. I was like, 'Oh Lord, I hope no one got killed or they weren't robbing the store I was trying to go in,'" Smith said.
Smith said it was surprising to find out it was a carjacking, something she said she doesn't hear about often in the area. She said thinking about it makes her a little nervous.
"They can just run up and just jump in with you, makes you kind of want to ride with your doors locked," Smith said.
IMPD said they found a handgun at the scene. No one else was hurt.
The officer who fired their weapon is on administrative leave, which is standard procedure for the department after a police shooting.