INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana State Police have arrested two people in connection to a deadly road rage shooting that led to a crash on Interstate 65.
Police confirm a 24-year-old man from Indianapolis was arrested on preliminary charges of murder and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. A Greenwood woman was arrested for assisting a criminal and obstruction of justice.
(NOTE: 13News does not name suspects until charges are filed by prosecutors.)
"The absolute key to this investigation and to bring justice to this family was eyewitness accounts of that incident," ISP Sgt. John Perrine said.
According to police, around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, a person driving on I-65 fired shots at another vehicle. They say 35-year-old Ryan Hawkins was shot before his vehicle went into a pond.
A friend of Hawkins told 13News he did a lot for the Indiana School for the Deaf and Gallaudet University.
"In this case, the people who called, the people who stepped up who gave us pieces of information, we were able to take it from each person and make a big picture and lead us to a successful investigation," Perrine said.
State police say within minutes of the first 911 calls, they got a detailed description of the suspect vehicle. The department says the vehicle was not registered.
Police say the arrests happened in two different locations. The woman turned herself in to police and the male suspect was arrested later in Indianapolis.
The department said this is just one of many interstate road rage incidents they've investigated this year. They said before 2020, there would only be around nine incidents a year, but after the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been more than 60 every year.
"That doesn't include the amount of cases we've worked where somebody just points or displays a firearm in a road rage. Last year we had over 230 of those," Perrine said.
State police tell 13News without eyewitness statements, they wouldn't be able to track drivers who cause these road rage incidents.
Formal charges for the two arrested will be determined by the Marion County Prosecutor's Office.