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gunman kills 8 people at FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis
Police say a gunman shot eight people and wounded several others last Thursday at a FedEx center in Indianapolis before killing himself.
Shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday night, the Indianapolis City Police Department responded to 8951 Mirabel Road at the FedEx Ground operations center in Plainfield. We got a call with a link to this place. When officers responded, they found an active shooter at the scene. According to preliminary information, the suspected shooter committed suicide at the scene. After an initial interior and exterior search, we found eight people at the scene with gunshot wounds. All eight were pronounced dead at the scene. We have been informed that many other injured people have been taken to local hospitals or have taken themselves to local hospitals. We know that the ambulance was carrying four people, one of whom was in critical condition with gunshot wounds consistent with gunshot wounds. Three other people were transported for various other injuries. And then we had two people who were here on the scene, treated by medical personnel and then released. We made many other visits to various local hospitals.
According to police, a gunman shot and killed eight people and wounded several others Thursday night at a FedEx center in Indianapolis before killing himself. Credit… Indianapolis Star, via Associated Press.
INDIANAPOLIS – Authorities searched Friday for a motive after a gunman stormed a FedEx center in Indianapolis Thursday night, killing eight people and wounding at least seven others in a chaotic, fast-moving scene that was the latest mass shooting to rock the country in weeks.
At a press conference Friday morning, officials said they had not yet identified the victims, in part because the coroner had not yet been able to arrive at the scene. Authorities said they are also working to confirm the identity of the gunman from clues, but that is not yet the case.
The gunman, likely armed with a rifle, killed himself almost immediately after the shooting, which erupted suddenly and without immediate confrontation, authorities said. He just showed up and started shooting indiscriminately, Deputy Chief Craig McCartt said.
The violence in Indianapolis comes just weeks after several mass shootings last month at spas in Atlanta and a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, that drew attention to America’s deep-rooted gun problems and caused both exhaustion and grief.
Officials used a common word – different – to describe the tragedy. It’s another heartbreaking day, and I’m shocked by the mass shooting at the FedEx Ground in Indianapolis, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb said on Twitter. Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett condemned the horrifying news of yet another mass shooting, an act of violence that has taken the lives of eight of our fellow human beings.
Authorities received little notice Friday morning and said they could not say whether the shooter had anything to do with the facility or not. The shot was quick and clean, officials said. FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Indianapolis office Paul Keenan said it was too early to speculate on the motive.
Arriving at the warehouse, the gunman got out of his car and began shooting rapidly in the parking lot before entering the building and killing himself. There was no confrontation with those present, Chief McCarthy said.
The FedEx warehouse where the shooting took place is located in the southwest part of the city, near the airport.
And although authorities have promised a thorough investigation, Mayor Hogsett said no amount of additional information can restore the number of lives lost or the world devastated.
Nothing we have learned can heal the wounds of those who escaped death but now bear the scars and memories of this heinous crime, he told reporters. This morning is grief for us – grief for the families of the victims, grief for the workers who lost their colleagues, and grief for the many Americans trying to understand how tragedies like this can continue to happen.
In Washington, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about the shooting and said President Biden would speak about it later Friday. Again, there are families in our country who mourn the loss of their members to gun violence, she said. There is no doubt that this violence must end and our thoughts are with the families who have lost their loved ones.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has also been briefed on the situation.
The atmosphere was tense as workers’ families waited for news at the construction site and more than 100 people gathered at the nearby Holiday Inn Express to deliver the news. A woman who arrived at the hotel early Friday morning called: Jeepers! Thank God! when she heard her relative was safe.
Early Friday, police said five of the wounded had been hospitalized with gunshot wounds or shrapnel, including one in critical condition who is expected to survive. The other two were treated at the scene and released.
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gunman kills 8 people at FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis
Police say a gunman shot and killed eight people and wounded several others at a FedEx center in Indianapolis last Thursday before killing himself.
Shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday night, the Indianapolis City Police Department responded to 8951 Mirabel Road at the FedEx Ground operations center in Plainfield. We got a call with a link to this place. When officers responded, they found an active shooter at the scene. According to preliminary information, the suspected shooter committed suicide at the scene. After an initial interior and exterior search, we found eight people at the scene with gunshot wounds. All eight were pronounced dead at the scene. We have been informed that many other injured people have been taken to local hospitals or have taken themselves to local hospitals. We know that the ambulance was carrying four people, one of whom was in critical condition with gunshot wounds consistent with gunshot wounds. Three other people were transported for various other injuries. And then we had two people who were here on the scene, treated by medical personnel and then released. We made many other visits to various local hospitals.
According to police, a gunman shot and killed eight people and wounded several others Thursday night at a FedEx center in Indianapolis before killing himself. Credit… Indianapolis Star, via Associated Press.
In an interview with NBC Today on Friday, FedEx’s Levi Miller said he was sitting outside on a bench eating with his colleagues when he heard several gunshots coming from inside. When he got up from the couch, he saw a man wearing a hoodie and carrying a gun.
He began yelling and shooting in a random direction, Bennett said. Miller. I thought he saw me, and I immediately took cover.
Miller said he did not understand what the gunman was shouting and could not see the suspect’s face in detail, but was told by colleagues that the man was a staff member. Authorities have not yet released the identity of the shooter or confirmed whether he worked at the facility.
I saw a man in a hoodie. he had an AR in his hand and he started screaming and then shooting.
Levi Miller, who works in the FedEx building where the gunman killed at least eight people before taking his own life, tells us what he experienced pic.twitter.com/67uLyasWAJ
– TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 16, 2021
A reporter for WRTV, a station in Indianapolis, tweeted an interview with a man who said he was in the facility when the shooting began and then saw a body lying on the ground.
WISH, another local station, quoted Jeremiah Miller, a warehouse worker, as saying he heard up to 10 shots after his shift was over.
Then I got up and looked through the front door, and then I saw a man with some kind of machine gun, an automatic rifle, and he was shooting through the opening, Miller told the station.
Courtney Crown, a reporter for the Fox News affiliate in Indianapolis, published another interview with a man who said his niece was hospitalized after being shot in the left arm when the shooting began.
Family members await information Friday at a hotel near the shooting in Indianapolis…A J Mast for The New York Times
INDIANAPOLIS – Family members of people who work at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis gathered Friday at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, anxiously awaiting news about their loved ones.
More than 12 hours after a gunman opened fire Thursday, killing eight people and wounding others, some families still have not heard from their loved ones while authorities continue to work to identify the victims.
The mood was tense Friday as the teams lined up outside the hotel and flags flew throughout the state. A team of chaplains, the American Red Cross and at least one therapy dog were at the scene. The mayor of Indianapolis came to speak personally with the families.
Officials said it could be hours before they could name the dead. Friday morning, the coroner at the scene of the shooting was not yet available, authorities said.
Members of the Indianapolis Police Department’s chaplaincy staff were at the hotel Friday to reassure the families of the FedEx employees who were arrested. Credit…Mast J for The New York Times
In time, some families left, relieved, and the news for those left behind became disturbing.
But the situation was complicated by the fact that FedEx employees were not allowed to use the phones in the warehouse, family members said, and officials said surviving employees rushed to a hotel after the shooting and left phones, wallets and personal items behind.
With no contact for more than 12 hours, families hoped – in some cases prayed – that they would not hear from their loved ones as a result.
One of those present, Pardeep Sidhu of Plainfield, Ind. said his uncle and aunt worked at the facility and that the 45-year-old husband of a friend was shot there.
Patricia Holman, senior chaplain for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, was one of six chaplains who arrived at the hotel Friday to provide pastoral care and comfort. She worked for the city for over 30 years, first as a police officer and then as a chaplain.
This is not the first time the six of us have responded to an event, she says. But this is the first time it’s taken six of us.
It never gets easier, she added.
She said they would try to give affected families as much information as possible about what to do next, including an autopsy should they discover a loved one has died.
It’s as hard for us to tell as it is for them, she says. This happens all too often.
Police gangs surrounded the FedEx parking lot where eight people were killed Thursday. A FedEx spokesperson said access to cell phones is restricted to minimize distractions. linked to credit John Cherry/Getty Images
Family members concerned about the fate of their loved ones who worked at the FedEx plant where Thursday’s shooting took place can no longer communicate with them normally: Many people did not have cell phones.
Indianapolis Police Vice Chief Craig McCartt told CNN that many officers were unable to contact their families after the deadly shooting, adding to the grief of loved ones waiting for news.
Jim Masilak, a FedEx spokesman, confirmed Friday morning that access to cell phones is restricted at the facility where packages are sorted for delivery to minimize distractions. Such a policy is common in an industry where distractions can harm workers and disrupt fast-paced, highly automated production.
Christina Valor said she heard about the shooting on the news and was unable to reach one of her husband’s sisters, who worked at the complex. She waited for news Friday morning at a nearby Holiday Inn Express, where authorities asked family members to gather.
We hope for the best, Valor said. But we don’t know anything.
Tammy Campbell, who said her husband works for FedEx, criticized the cell phone ban policy Friday morning on her local Fox television station. She was told that he was fine, but that she couldn’t talk to him until his shift was over.
You need a different kind of policy where you can contact your employees or allow them to have their phone, they told the network.
Normally, FedEx employees unload packages by hand when a truck arrives at a facility like the one where the shooting took place. From there, parcels are fed into a high-speed automated system where they are scanned, placed on a conveyor belt and sorted. They can then be loaded back onto vehicles for transport to their final destination or to another facility.
Fast-moving vehicles and belts rip through those pockets like crazy, says Dean Macuiba, managing partner of Last Mile Experts, a transportation consulting firm. You can’t be distracted for a second, you could get hurt.
Mr. Masilak said Friday that FedEx is cooperating with authorities. We are deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of our team members following the tragic shooting at our FedEx facility in Indianapolis, he said. Our sincere condolences go out to all those affected by this senseless act of violence.
Mourners gathered on the 21st. March to Gold Spa to pray for Atlanta shooting victims…Credit…Chang W. Lee/The York Times
President Biden pledged to do more to combat gun violence after a mass shooting in Indianapolis that killed eight people, just as his administration, in an effort to respond to a new round of violence, rejected calls for a gun czar to more forcefully address the crisis.
In a statement, Biden said he had been informed of the incident in which a lone gunman killed eight people and wounded several others in the dead of night, and that he had ordered the flag to fly at half-mast just two weeks after he issued a similar order following the massacres in Atlanta and Boulder.
Gun violence is an epidemic in America, he said. But we don’t have to accept it. We must act. We can and should do more to act and save lives. God bless the eight Americans we lost in Indianapolis and their loved ones, and we pray for the recovery of the injured.
Earlier, his spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, rejected suggestions that he would appoint an armed czar similar to the one he touted for the climate crisis, arguing that Republicans in Congress, not a lack of will in the West Wing, were the biggest obstacle to a solution.
I would say that activists should lobby Senate Republicans, that all of you should lobby Senate Republicans and ask them why they oppose universal background checks, she said, after a reporter suggested that Biden was passing the buck by blaming Republicans.
Despite the apparent stalemate, there are signs that things may be changing.
Sir, I want to thank you for your support. Mr. Biden is moving forward with some limited executive action, and there are new discussions on Capitol Hill about expanding background checks, helped by the financial collapse of the National Rifle Association,
One of the most consistent measures so far has been the transfer of workers: Biden appointed David Chipman, a former federal law enforcement official, to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the beleaguered agency responsible for enforcing federal gun laws and existing executive actions.
For years, NRA lawmakers have imposed the strictest restrictions on the FTA of any federal law enforcement agency, even prohibiting the agency from making firearms detectable by computer.
The agency has not had a full-time director for the past 25 years, with Republican and Democratic senators overturning appointments, arguing that a strong agency head threatened the Second Amendment.
Chipman is a staunch supporter of expanding background checks, banning assault weapons and removing ATF inspectors.
But White House officials hope he can get 52 votes, given the current outcry over recent shootings. Sen. Joe Manchin III, the most conservative Democrat, has expressed tentative support, and two Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, are open to a vote, according to Republican Senate staffers who are aware of their thoughts.
Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, both from Connecticut, are turning to Republicans in hopes of passing a more limited oversight bill than the omnibus bill passed by House Democrats earlier this year. Background checks are very popular in national surveys.
The most influential national advocate for gun control appears to be Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, whose support for Chipman was a crucial factor in his appointment, according to several people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Biden, who struck a tone of distaste and frustration, unveiled two relatively modest executive actions last week – a 60-day review of homemade and unregistered ghost guns that would likely lead to a ban, and the elimination of staples used to turn handguns into short-barreled rifles – a proposal rejected by the Trump administration.
Memorial in Boulder, Colo. last month when 10 people were killed in a convenience store. linked to Theo Stumer credit for The New York Times.
Thursday’s attack in Indianapolis follows a series of mass shootings in the United States in recent weeks:
- In mid-March, eight people were shot to death at three massage parlors in Atlanta, raising concerns that the crimes may have targeted people of Asian descent.
- Less than a week later, 10 people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a convenience store in Boulder, Colorado.
- In late March, a gunman killed four people, including a 9-year-old boy, at a real estate office in Southern California.
- Last week, a neighbor at his home in Rock Hill, South Carolina, shot and killed a doctor, the doctor’s wife and their two grandchildren, as well as an air conditioning specialist who was working outside the house. The sixth man, who was later shot, died.
In a stark reminder of the ongoing mass shootings in the United States, Friday marked the 14th anniversary of the shooting. Commemorating the Virginia Tech massacre, when a gunman killed 33 people in what was then the deadliest shooting in the country’s history.
Downtown Indianapolis last month. linked to credit James Black/Sportswire Icon, via Associated Press Images.
Indianapolis, like several other cities in the United States, saw an increase in criminal homicides in 2020.
There were 215 criminal homicides in the city, the most in a single year, according to an Indianapolis Star analysis of Indianapolis police data. In addition, there were 30 other non-criminal murders, mostly in cases where the authorities believed that the murder was justified. B. in case of self-defense.
The city’s previous record was 159 murders in 2018, The Associated Press reported. Police investigated 154 murders in 2019.
Since the start of 2021, Indianapolis has had three of the nation’s 12 deadliest shootings, including Thursday’s shooting at a FedEx warehouse, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive. A shooting in March left four dead, up from five in January.
Investigators say this type of firearm violence did not decrease during the pandemic in the country, but remained hidden from the public. Data from the gun data archive shows that in 2020, there were more than 600 shootings in which at least four people were shot by one person, up from 417 in 2019.
In February, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett spoke out against criticism, including from the president of the Indianapolis Police Federation, of the way elected officials handle crime. Hogsett told local station 13 WTHR News that leaders have made progress in combating violent crimes such as robbery and rape.
We now need to focus on the weapon as a laser, he said.
Mr. Hogsett stated that he sees a change in the way people resolve their disputes.
We are seeing an increase in the number of social conflicts that used to be resolved with a punch on the nose or other forms of non-lethal violence, he said. We see that, in too many cases, conflicts are resolved by armed force.