Ind. man shoots 4, 1 fatally, before shooting self
May 31, 2012, 5:32 AM
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A gunman opened fire at an Indianapolis apartment complex Wednesday, fatally shooting a woman and wounding three other people before turning the gun on himself as officers confronted him, police said.
The woman who died in the Villa Paree’s leasing office was an employee of the apartment complex in the city’s northeast side, Indianapolis police spokesman Officer Kendale Adams said. Two other women and a maintenance worker also were shot, though all three were in stable condition Wednesday night at local hospitals, police said.
Police have no information about a possible motive but believe the gunman lived at the complex. Adams said officers confronted him near the apartment complex’s pool before he shot himself.
“Officers had encountered him, and they were actually getting ready to engage in trying to get that suspect to surrender that weapon he was holding. He did not, and he shot himself,” Adams said.
The man later died at an Indianapolis hospital. His name hasn’t been released.
Police said the woman who died was 45-year-old Alicia Koehl of Indianapolis. She and another apartment complex employee, 61-year-old Charlene Sanders of Indianapolis, had been shot several times and were found in the leasing office.
The third victim, Stephanie Bellamy, 29, was found in her apartment suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, and the fourth victim, 30-year-old maintenance worker Jacob Wiseman, of Beech Grove, told investigators he ran after being shot to a nearby business parking lot where officers found him.
The shootings occurred around 4:30 p.m. at different locations at the complex, including the leasing office and the outdoor pool area, Adams said.
Apartment complex resident Mark Taylor told WTHR-TV that his sister was among the injured. He said she was shot once in the arm and once in the thigh. Taylor said his sister didn’t know the gunman and lived near the leasing office.
“She don’t bother nobody. She don’t bother nobody at all,” he said.
Maurice Carter, a 54-year-old who’s lived at the apartment complex for four years, told The Indianapolis Star he was inside his apartment when he heard shots. Carter said he ran outside and heard more shots. He also said he knew the maintenance worker who was shot.
“He was a good guy. He was a real good maintenance worker. He talks to you with respect,” he said.
Villa Paree resident Cheryl F. Williams, 56, told The Associated Press that nothing like the shootings had ever happened in the eight years she has lived at the complex, which she said is normally quiet.
“It’s very sad and unfortunate,” Williams said.
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Charles Wilson in Indianapolis contributed to this report.
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