INDIANAPOLIS — The most recent officer-involved shooting in Indianapolis left a man dead who was not the man police were originally trying to arrest.
Home surveillance video shows 31-year-old Leandre Houston jump out of the passenger side or a black Chrysler 200 and pull something from his waistband as he runs between houses. Meanwhile, the driver, 30-year-old Demarqus Whitley, keeps running east on Ruskin Place in a northeast Indianapolis neighborhood near 38th Street and Shadeland Avenue.
The video shows Houston running up a driveway and jumping a privacy fence into a backyard. But the officer-involved shooting that happened just a few moments later is not in the view of the camera.
The home resident has shared the video with police and allowed WTHR to view the video. He agreed to provide the video to WTHR, but we have not received it yet.
Police released photos of a handgun lying near a wood privacy fence they say they found next to Houston after he was shot on Nov. 17. Police have not said if that gun was fired during the incident.
Police found Whitley hiding under a truck parked in a driveway several houses further down Ruskin Place from where Houston was shot.
Police first started looking for Whitley on Nov. 9. He was wanted for violating home detention on a conviction of stealing a gun and being a felon with a gun. Police say he was also a suspect in the investigation of guns being stolen from vehicles in the Broad Ripple area.
Court records say police spotted Whitley leaving an apartment in Amber Woods on Nov. 15 on three different occasions. But police say Whitley drove off recklessly in the Chrysler 200 and got away each time.
Then on Nov. 17, police say they spotted the same car at 16th Street and Arlington Avenue. They tried to pull the car over. Whitley allegedly started to comply, then took off and led police on a four-mile chase to the northeast side that ended in a neighborhood at Mitchner Avenue and Ruskin Place. Police say Whitley and Houston got out of the car while it was still moving and ran from police.
In Friday’s incident, Whitley is charged with two counts of resisting law enforcement – using a vehicle and also running from police – and operating a car without a license. He makes his initial court appearance the morning of Nov. 22 on those charges. He is being held seven days without bond, but can post a $500 cash bond after that.
Houston does not appear to have any outstanding warrants. But he was a convicted felon who was not allowed to have a gun.
IMPD officers have shot suspects 16 times in the last year. At this point, nine of those suspects have died. This has been the 12th officer-involved shooting since Aug. 1.