UPDATE (April 10, 2023): The Lawrence Prosecutor’s Office ruled the shooting was justified.
LAWRENCE CO., Ind. – At 3:15 a.m., a Mitchell Police officer rolled into a convenience store/gas station on State Road 37 to back up a Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputy on a traffic stop.
During that encounter, officers called for a Mitchell Police K-9 that eventually hit on narcotics in the car and that’s when police said the driver fled.
“The man ran across 37 to the west,” said Indiana State Police Sgt. John Perrine. “As he got to the other side of the road, he produced a handgun and fired shots at the officers. At least one officer was able to return fire.”
A neighbor watched as two officers chased the man across the four-lane divided highway to the foot of his driveway.
”When we stepped outside the shots just started ringing. And they just kept coming,” said the neighbor. “I heard four, maybe five. They all happened at the same time and it wasn’t the same caliber. I can tell by the sound of it.”
The neighbor’s surveillance video, obtained by Fox 59 News, shows what appear to be either muzzle flashes or police flashlights some 30 seconds after the officers and the man they were pursuing disappeared into the dark.
Perrine said that’s when the man opened fire at point-blank range as the officers were trying to handcuff him.
Both officers were hit and at least one of them returned fire, fatally wounding the gunman.
The gunman, identified as 29-year-old Anthony Richmond of West Baden Springs, died at a local hospital. The officer and the deputy were airlifted to Indianapolis to be treated for their wounds.
State Road 37 remained partially closed until 10 a.m. as detectives conducted their investigation and collected evidence.
“Why would somebody run?” I asked the neighbor.
“Just so he wouldn’t have to go to jail I guess,” said the witness. ”If he had narcotics in his car, he would run. Most people would.”
