INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD released an edited video sharing preliminary details in the investigation of an officer fatally shooting a man carrying a machete on Aug. 27.
IMPD claims between Aug. 25 and Aug. 27, 2023, officers were dispatched five times to the 4500 block of Woodland Drive, near West 46th Street and Moller Road, for incidents involving 40-year-old Kendall Gilbert.
Police said family members told them Gilbert was experiencing a mental health crisis, making threatening comments and damaging property. Officers said they were not able to make contact with Gilbert, as he was behind the locked door of a room and later advised his family to leave the house.
Police were called back when a woman at the house pressed a medical emergency button and said someone was trying to kill her.
Police said they arrived to find Gilbert outside the home and carrying a machete.
After helping get family members out of the home, police said they tried talking with Gilbert from a distance in an attempt to de-escalate the situation.
NOTE: The bodycam video can be found here. WARNING: It contains graphic language and images.
IMPD claims officers tried talking with Gilbert for more than two hours, and the IMPD Special Weapons and Tactics Team and the Crisis Negotiation Unit, which included a psychologist, were called in to assist.
During those conversations, Gilbert can be heard on the video stating, "I'm waiting for you to pull the trigger." An officer can be heard responding, "We don't want to pull the trigger. No one wants to hurt you."
Shortly after 9 p.m., IMPD said the SWAT team tried less-lethal devices on Gilbert after he crossed a point in approaching officers. After that, IMPD said Gilbert ran at the officers.
IMPD said Gilbert made contact with an officer holding a shield, and that is when 28-year veteran Lt. John Perkins fired three shots at Gilbert.
A medic was called for within several seconds of Gilbert being shot. He was taken to the hospital, where he died. No one else was injured.
According to police, detectives found a machete and knife at the scene.
Neighbors on Woodland Drive said they often think about what they saw on Aug. 27 with a heavy heart. Rachelle Clark and her son, Donald, live just a few houses down and witnessed everything.
"It was such a tragedy for a mother to call law enforcement and still have lost her son from the outcome of that incident," Donald said.
"It was traumatizing for us to view. It changes you to view something like that, to be that close and not be able to do anything about it," Rachelle said.
Both Rachelle and Donald hope people take something away when they look at the bodycam video.
"That this happens, and we cannot forget. It serves as a lesson and in so many ways, a lesson to take care of mental health, a lesson of recording everything," Donald said.