17-year-old shot by police after pointing firearm at officers
NEW WHITELAND, Ind. (WISH) — A 17-year-old was shot by police on Friday after pointing a firearm at them outside a home.
At 12:30 p.m., New Whiteland police were dispatched to a home in 700 block of Harvest Meadow Way in Whiteland, Johnson County Sheriff Doug Cox said. A resident called 911 to say there was a juvenile runaway who had returned to the house with a firearm.
New Whiteland officers went to the house in the Country Gate neighborhood, where the adult who called 911 came out to talk to officers. The 17-year-old boy came out of the house and pointed firearm at officers, Cox said.
That’s when police fired their weapons at the 17-year-old, striking him “a couple of times,” according to Cox. Officers then applied a tourniquet until medics arrived and took the suspect to Indianapolis hospital.
“It was a very gruesome scene, something you don’t see in this neighborhood,” said Brian Lane, who has lived in the neighborhood for 14 years.
New Whiteland police asked the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the crime scene. It is not clear how the juvenile is connected to the residence where he pointed the gun at officers, Cox said.
The two people associated with the Friday incident are believed to be connected to the overnight pursuit.
Police also arrested Jordan Fulkerson, who police believe is 18 or 19, along with the juvenile. Fulkerson was taken into custody in the Country Gate neighborhood after police said he saw the commotion and ran behind a house.
Fulkerson was wanted on other outstanding warrants and is being questioned about his involvement in the overnight pursuit as well.
The New Whiteland police chief will decide whether the officers involved will be put on administrative leave during the investigation, Cox said.
Investigators believe the 17-year-old and Fulkerson are both connected to an overnight pursuit where a person fired shots at police after leading them on a car chase.
“It’s getting a little crazy out here,” said Cox. “When you have a 17-year-old young man, if it was him that was involved last evening, you have a 17-year-old young man involved in a vehicle pursuit, firing at the police. A 17-year-old stepping out of the house pointing a firearm at the police. Senseless is pretty much about the only word I can use.”
According to News 8’s newsgathering partners at The Daily Journal, armed suspects shot at police officers during an overnight pursuit in the same area. New Whiteland police tried to pull over a vehicle around 12:45 a.m. Friday near Tracy and Sawmill roads. A 15-minute pursuit ended when two men jumped out of the car, the car hit a sign, ran through a yard and hit a tree. During a chase on foot, one of the two suspects fired a shot at two officers, neither of whom was injured, New Whiteland Police Chief Joe Rynerson told the Daily Journal.
An earlier version of this story said that a person had died in an incident with Whiteland Police. That person was shot by police, but he was hospitalized Friday afternoon.
