Indiana officer shot dead at accident scene
A suburban Indianapolis police officer was killed yesterday as he walked up to a car that had flipped in a crash and was shot repeatedly by one of the vehicle’s two occupants.
Southport police Lt. Aaron Allan, his department’s officer of the year in 2015, and an officer with the Homecroft Police Department were responding to the car crash about 3 p.m., the Indianapolis Star reported. It was unclear whether the shooter was still in the car.
The Homecroft officer and an off-duty Johnson County sheriff ’s deputy returned fire, wounding the shooter, the Star reported. Both occupants were hospitalized in police custody.
“This afternoon we lost a brother,” Southport police Chief Thomas Vaughn said of Allan.
What prompted the shooter to open fire was unclear, the newspaper reported.
Southport and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officials gave few details at a press conference.
“This will be handled just like one of our own officers,” IMPD Chief Bryan Roach said.
The Star described a mangled wrought-iron fence and the toppled black car at the scene of the shooting, amid otherwise well-kept suburban lawns.
The Southport Police Department is a force of about 30 officers who are unpaid volunteers.
Allan had been with the department since 2011, according to an October 2015 article from the Southside Times.
He became the department’s first officer of the year in 2015 after being promoted to the head of Southport’s training division. When presenting the award to Allan, Vaughn highlighted a moment in August 2015 when Allan performed CPR on a man and saved his life.
Allan had also worked as a police officer for the Franklin Township Community School Corp.
Allen told the Southside Times that he wanted to be a police officer since he was 5 years old.