Burglar shoots, kills 67-year-old man

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Officials say one person was shot and killed during a home invasion on the city's northwest side early Friday morning.

The incident occurred just before 7 a.m. at a home in the 7800 block of Harcourt Spring Place.

Officials tell 24-Hour News 8 that a couple was in their home drinking coffee and heard a disturbance around 6:30 a.m. The husband went to go see what was going on.

"The wife of the victim grabbed her cell phone and ran into a back room. She described hearing a pop and a scream. She called police. When we arrived here on scene we found the victim deceased," said Indianapolis Metropolitan police officer Michael Hewitt.

Police identified the victim as 67-year-old Thomas Tefft. Officials have determined the couple left their back sliding door unlocked and the screen door was cut open.

"It sickened me. I've been vacillating between being very emotional to being outraged because it is our homes and people should feel safe in our homes," said City Council member Angela Mansfield.

Mansfield rushed to the scene. She went as a concerned neighbor, not a public official. She  lives just down the street and knows the Teffts.

"Super, super nice man. Very committed to our neigborhood. He and his wife are the type of neighbors everybody wants," Mansfield said.

Mansfield says several neighbors have complained about having their cars broken into recently, but crime in the neighborhood has never risen to this level before.

The suspect stole the couple's 2009 black Hyundai Sonata that was parked in the driveway of the home. The vehicle has a license plate of IW813.

Police are searching for the car and the suspect who is described as a black man in his 20s. The gunman was wearing a black ski mask and a hoodie.

After the 911 call was made, Officials from Washington Township Schools added extra security patrols at Greenbriar Elementary School, which is located at 82nd and Ditch Road. The district also redirected school bus traffic out of the immediate area of the crime scene.