Police arrested a 28-year-old man accused of gunning down an officer who was trying to help him and someone else after their car overturned and came to rest in a front yard along a busy Indianapolis street.
Jason Brown, 28, was arrested at a hospital Thursday night on a preliminary murder charge in the killing hours earlier of Southport police Lt. Aaron Allan. Southport is municipality that is part of Indianapolis but also has its own mayor and police force.
Authorities haven’t given a possible motive for the shooting of Allan. Indianapolis police said in a statement Thursday two other officers returned fire and shot one of the people in the car, but they didn’t specify whether it was Brown, who is from Indianapolis. Both people in the car suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police spokesman Sgt. Kendale Adams said Friday.
Southport’s police chief said Allan, 38, had been with the department for six years and was previously an officer for the Franklin Township school district in suburban Indianapolis.
The Marion County prosecutor’s office will likely file formal charges in the shooting early next week, spokeswoman Peg McLeish said. No court hearings were immediately scheduled.
She said the second person in the car hasn’t been arrested and that person’s actions remain under investigation.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett called Allan’s death “a shocking and tragic reminder of the difficult, often dangerous work of police officers.” He said the community grieves for the Allan family.
Allan’s patrol SUV was parked outside the Southport police station on Friday and was covered with flower bouquets left by residents.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.