Good Samaritan jumps in to help IMPD officer shot in shootout

INDIANAPOLIS — Tina Jordan was in her home near 16th and Lafayette on Tuesday afternoon when she heard several gunshots and looked out her window.

She could see an IMPD officer lying in the drive of her complex.

“My daughter hollered out the window, ‘Are you hit?'” Jordan recalled. “He said, yeah, so we got some towels and rushed out there to try to help him.”

The officer, who has yet to be identified, was stopping a car that had been stolen the day before. As he tried to take the driver into custody, investigators said another man got out of the car and shot him multiple times.

Jordan said the officer was in pain and his injuries looked severe.

“He moved his hand and blood was gushing out of his leg,” Jordan said. “So we put the towels on there and hold them till the other officers pulled up and when they pulled up, they took over.”

The officer was rushed to nearby Eskenazi Hospital, where he remains as of Wednesday evening. He is said to be stable, but doctors are monitoring his injuries.

“Probably going to be in the hospital another day or so,” Chief Chris Bailey said during an interview Wednesday morning. “Just depends on how it progresses. Making sure there’s no infection or those types of things.”

All of this started with a midnight carjacking at the BP gas station at 34th Street and Moller Road on Monday. According to a police report, Mahki Starks was one of the people who carjacked the white Honda sedan at gunpoint.

On Tuesday afternoon, the officer ran the car’s plate and discovered it was stolen. The cop followed the car into the Union at 16th apartment complex, where the driver pulled into a parking spot.

Investigators said one of the passengers immediately ran. While the officer tried to take the driver into custody, police said another man got out and shot him multiple times.

The officer fired back and hit the shooter.

Police said Malique Starks, 19, then ran into one of the apartment buildings where officers eventually arrested him. The shooter and the person who ran off have yet to be publicly identified.

“An attack against a law enforcement officer is an attack against civil society,” Chief Chris Bailey said. “It’s an attack against our way of life and we all have to be outraged about it.”

Jordan said she is glad to hear the officer is recovering and said she’d do it all over again if necessary.

“Somebody needed help, so we was trying to help whoever that needed help,” Jordan said. “When we got out here, he was hollering, so we went and helped him.”

Police are still searching for the suspect who ran off. Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call 911 or CrimeStoppers at 317-262-TIPS.