Man sought in woman’s beating shoots self after police chase in Bloomington

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) – A 34-year-old man being sought by police for stabbing a woman has shot himself in the head after a car chase Friday and is in critical condition, Bloomington police said.

The woman said Brandon Richardson beat her with a metal bar, strangled her, stabbed her and kept her confined in a room for several days with a dog leash around her neck.

Bloomington Police Department said its detectives obtained information Friday that Richardson was at an house in the 3100 block of West Vernal Pike. They secured a search warrant and joined other authorities in blocking off Vernal Pike and Woodyard Road.

At 12:35 p.m., authorities were approaching the house when Richardson fled in a red 2003 Acura. Police said he went west on Vernal Pike and struck a sheriff’s department vehicle and then turned north on Woodyard Road, where he crashed into three other police cars. Richardson then shot himself once in the head with a handgun.

Richardson was taken to IU Health Bloomington Hospital for treatment.

No officers were injured.

Police earlier this week learned the woman was battered, strangled and stabbed over the course of three days earlier this month. She said the assault began over relationship problems and continued over the next two days.

Detectives met with the victim Wednesday afternoon at a hospital. The woman said Richardson began yelling and beating her on the evening of April 9 at a home in the 2600 block of South Rogers Street.

Investigators said she had multiple fractures to her face, a broken vertebrae, broken ribs, contusions and stab wounds. She said went to a neighbor for help when Richardson left the house on Wednesday morning.

Her injuries were not considered to be life-threatening, but she was transferred from a Bloomington hospital to an Indianapolis hospital.