INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis man has pled guilty to attempted murder after luring two IMPD officers to an area near the Indiana State Fairgrounds before ambushing and stabbing them, reportedly in retaliation for a large medical bill he couldn’t afford.
Deonta Williams, 22, entered a guilty plea on Thursday in Marion County Court for two counts of attempted murder – a level 1 felony. The charges stem from a 2021 incident in which two Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were stabbed on the city’s near north side.
IMPD officers were called around 1:10 a.m. on Dec. 1, 2021, by a man – later identified as Williams – who reported a disturbance in the 1400 block of Fairfield Avenue just south of the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
Williams told 911 that he was being harassed by another man.
Around 5 minutes later, two IMPD officers arrived to find Williams standing in the street. The officers reportedly told Williams they would try to find the person involved.
However, when they turned and began walking away, Williams stabbed both officers with two different knives. One officer was stabbed in the chest while the other was slashed in the neck.
IMPD said officers both drew their guns and commanded Williams to get on the ground, but he did not comply. The officers then both fired at Williams, shooting him several times before he fell in the middle of the street.
As officers held Williams at gunpoint, IMPD said backup crews found yellow and green-handled knives in the grass nearby. First aid was given to both officers and Williams was placed in handcuffs before being treated by EMS, court docs show.
Both officers were taken by squad car to Eskenazi Hospital and later underwent successful surgeries to close their puncture wounds. Meanwhile, Williams was taken to Methodist Hospital for several gunshot wounds that he later recovered from.
After being cleared at Methodist, police arrested Williams and took him for further treatment at Eskenazi. During an interview with officers, Williams said he called 911 and made up a story about being harassed to draw officers to his location.
“He said that he felt the city owed him because he had received a large medical bill that he could not pay and decided to take it out on the officers,” one officer wrote. “I asked him what his plan was, and he said, ‘Get my own justice.’ I asked him how and he said, ‘I was gonna kill an officer’.”
Court documents show that Williams said he didn’t want to kill “a lot of officers,” but rather wanted to stab one, take their gun and shoot them to death. He was later taken to Marion County Jail and booked on attempted murder charges.
Following his guilty pleas on Thursday, a sentencing hearing in Williams’ case has been scheduled for 1 p.m. on July 19, 2024.
Online court records show that, while awaiting trial for the stabbings, Williams was charged in a separate incident inside the jail.
In that case, filed in November 2022, the 22-year-old has already pled guilty to one count of being a prisoner in possession of a deadly weapon. Charges of battering a public safety official were dismissed. An initial hearing in that case is also scheduled for the same time on July 19.
