IMPD IDs officer who shot suspect at fight of 20 people about social media dispute
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis Metropolitan police on Friday released the name of the officer who shot a man Sunday after police say the man pointed a firearm at the officer at the scene of a 20-person fight where two women were shot and injured.
IMPD said Officer Marshall Berkebile, a 19-year veteran with the department, shot and injured a man as officers arrived at a fight around 11:54 a.m. Sunday in the 4500 block of Pleasant Run Parkway North Drive, an address that corresponds to the Parkway Terrace Apartments. The man, who police have not identified, was released Monday from IU Health Methodist Hospital, arrested, and faced a preliminary charge of aggravated battery, pending a final charging decision by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.
According to personnel information released Friday by IMPD, Berkebile has been assigned to the department’s southeast district since 2007 and has received four commendations and two written reprimands during his 19 years as a police officer in Indianapolis. One reprimand was related to off-duty employment; the other was about a court appearance, according to the released information.
Berkebile is on administrative leave as IMPD’s Critical Incident Response Team investigates. IMPD Internal Affairs is conducting a parallel investigation, and the IMPD Firearms Review Board will determine whether the use of force was within departmental compliance, IMPD said in a news release.
On Friday, police by phone confirmed that while an initial briefing by police said the man had fired at officers, further investigation determined that the man did not fire shots at officer — he pointed a firearm at officers. A Monday incident summary said the man pointed the firearm after running from the scene to a nearby car and receiving verbal commands from the officers.
Police on Friday still had not released the name and any preliminary charges against a woman who was apprehended during the Sunday fight. Police said they believe the man shot by police and the apprehended woman were involved in the shooting injuries of two women at the scene of the fight, which police say was about a social media dispute and involved people armed with guns, pepper spray, scissors and a metal pipe. Police said arriving officers were met with “multiple shots being fired in multiple directions” during the fight.
The two women found shot at the scene were taken to Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital, where they were stable on Sunday. Police in a Monday summary of the incident said they had determined the women were shot just as officers were arriving at the scene of the fight.
No additional information about the social media dispute that prompted the 20-person fight was immediately provided by police.
On Sunday, Sibley said the officers who responded to the scene were from the department’s southeast district, which has not yet received body-worn cameras. Monday’s summary added that an assisting officer from the department’s east district did have a body-worn camera, and it was activated. News 8 has reached out to see whether the video from the activated camera will be released.
