INDIANAPOLIS — Edited bodycam footage released on Friday showed the chaotic moments that led Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers to shoot an armed carjacking suspect.
Previous reporting and the video IMPD released on Friday both indicate three officers were sent to the 1000 block of North Kealing Avenue around 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 27 to take a theft report. While the officers were taking the report, a black Chevrolet SUV approached them.
The SUV was not related to the original incident IMPD had been called to the area to investigate. The bodycam video released Friday appears to show at least one officer saying “Who is this?” upon the car’s approach.
The first person police were speaking with told officers they didn’t know who might be in the approaching vehicle.
Soon after the car arrived, a woman signaled to officers that a man in the car was pointing a gun at her. The woman bailed out of the car as police approached it.
The video IMPD provided showed the suspect — who was later identified as 25-year-old Julius Hill — point his gun at officers in the area and at least one uninvolved bystander.
When the suspect pointed his gun, an IMPD officer can be heard saying “put your hands up. Put your f****** hands up.” Shortly after the officer issued his commands, he fired at least two shots.
The suspect was struck by the gunfire, but he did not drop his weapon after he was shot. Officers continued to tell Hill to drop his gun, but he did not respond to their commands.
Police then deployed a taser to fully incapacitate Hill. Once Hill had been tased, officers removed the gun from his hands.
Officers pulled Hill from the car once they took his weapon. They rendered first aid until medics arrived.
Hill was transported from the scene of the shooting to a local hospital in critical condition. IMPD provided photographs of both the gun that was in Hill’s hands during the incident and a second firearm investigators found in his backpack.
On Nov. 8, Hill was preliminarily charged with kidnapping (Level 2 Felony), armed robbery (Level 3 Felony), pointing a firearm (Level 6 Felony).
Hill died at the hospital on Nov. 14. FOX59 and CBS4 spoke with the woman Hill allegedly carjacked on Nov. 17.
After the shooting unfolded, IMPD confirmed the carjacking victim and her dog were not injured during the incident. No officers or bystanders were hurt during the shooting either.
The victim told FOX59 and CBS4 she had been driving through the area and seen police before the carjacking happened.
She also indicated Hill climbed in her car, pointed a gun at her and told her to drive shortly after she passed Kealing Avenue. The woman ultimately drove back to the 1000 block of Kealing Avenue, where she had previously seen police.
At the time of the incident, IMPD Chief Chris Bailey said the shooting may not have been avoidable.
“It’s pretty cut and dry what happened here,” Bailey said. “Our officers were here on a theft report, and violence came to them. They weren’t making a traffic stop, they weren’t serving a search warrant. They were here trying to help another community member with a theft report when a person pointed a gun at an unknown person and made her drive around, ended here and then pointed the gun, potentially, at that citizen again and an officer, then an officer-involved shooting occurred.
“We are open and transparent, and we have been, that review is underway. But if anybody here or out watching has a solution to prevent what happened here today, I’m all ears because there’s no way in my mind that this could’ve been prevented other than the person not forcefully taking and kidnapping a woman, forcing her to drive around while a gun was pointed to her head.”
IMPD has recorded 15 officer-involved shootings this year. As of October, the agency reported that it was still working with an outside agency to research and determine why officer-involved shootings are occurring in Indianapolis and what’s causing them.
IMPD’s critical incident response team is still investigating the officer-involved shooting that resulted in Hill’s death. IMPD’s internal affairs unit will also examine the incident to ensure the agency’s protocols were followed.
After any criminal proceedings the case may generate have concluded, a civilian-majority use-of-force board will review the incident.
