Hammond Police responded at 7:28 PM on 09-25-16 to a call of a 33 year old white male subject at his home in the 1500 Block of 177th Place who had contacted a veteran’s help hotline and was contemplating suicide. Along with initial officers responding, two Hammond Police negotiators were summoned to the scene.
Information was given to responding officers that the subject was in the possession of a handgun. An on-scene negotiator established phone contact with the subject and was attempting to obtain his surrender by asking him to put any weapons he had down and to come out of his front entrance door. During the negotiations, officers could see that the subject had what looked like a shotgun near his front entrance door.
- At 9:18 PM, a Hammond Police patrol supervisor said that the subject had fired a round with some kind of weapon while outside of his home.
- At 9:20 PM, the Hammond Police SWAT Team was called out.
- At 9:27 PM, it was reported by officers at the scene that the subject had fired another round while positioned outside of his house.
- At 9:47 PM, officers reported that the subject was in the possession of a shotgun and that more rounds were being fired.
- At 9:52 PM, it was reported that a member of the Hammond Police SWAT Team fired one shot from his rifle, wounding the subject after the subject had leveled his shotgun toward Hammond Police.
The subject was immediately taken into police custody and a response made by Hammond Fire Department personnel, who were already on-scene to transport the subject to Munster Community Hospital.
At the time of arrest, the subject was found to be wearing body armor and was in the possession of a handgun and a knife, in addition to having dropped a shotgun after being struck with the SWAT Officer’s gunfire.
The subject is currently under police guard and in stable condition. He is not being identified at this time pending the filing of formal criminal charges.
The Indiana State Police have been contacted and are formally handling the administrative investigation of the officer involved shooting.