2 shot in moving car that careened into store; 1 dead

UPDATE: IMPD identified the victim in a list of 2020 homicides issued on Sept. 2. The man who died in the shooting was James Thomas, 18. The case remains unsolved.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A man died and a woman was hurt Tuesday night after shots were fired at them in a moving car on West Washington Street on the city’s west side, police said.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were sent about 9:10 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a person shot at Waldemere Avenue and West Washington Street. That’s just east of the I-465 interchange for U.S. 40.

At the scene, police said, the car was going east on Washington Street shot, then careened through the parking lot of the Dollar Tree before hitting the retail store at the intersection of West Washington Street and West Morris Avenue.

Medics are Wayne Township Fire Department were in the area and heard the shots, but IMPD investigators said the shots were not fired inside the car. Investigators, though, did not immediately know from where the shots were fired or where the car was when it was hit by the gunfire.

The medics ran to the car to give assistance, but the driver, the man, had already lost consciousness. The man may have been shot seven times.

The woman’s injuries do not appear to be life-threatening, IMPD said in a news release.

The stores has damage to it but remains habitable, authorities said.

IMPD initially said two people were shot, and one of them was in critical condition. About 20 minutes later, IMPD said one of the two people shot had died.

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