Man accused of shooting into Indiana cop's home
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - A man accused of shooting an Indianapolis Metropolitan police officer's car and home will face charges in connection with the crime, according to CBS Indianapolis affiliate WTTV.
The officer's wife and child were sleeping during the incident; the officer, his wife and child were not injured, according to the Associated Press.
Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry announced the charges against March Eugene Ratney Thursday morning. They include criminal recklessness and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. Curry said the case did not meet the criteria for an attempted murder charge.
"The law requires a specific intent to kill a specific person. In this instance, the firing of a weapon into a house and into a vehicle does not support that sort of charge," Curry said. "We cannot file charges based upon the fact that we are mad at someone or because we think it is a popular decision."
Curry said it should be "abundantly obvious" that attacks on law enforcement personnel would not be tolerated.
"I would be remiss if I did not thank the community members that helped our officers that night locate this individual," said IMPD Chief Troy Riggs. "Can you imagine, today, if we had not located that individual, the fear we'd have in our community? The potential violence that could've been perpetrated against our officers or our citizens?"
The incident happened early Tuesday morning and led to Ratney's arrest. Indianapolis Metropolitan police were called to the officer's east side home after a man clad in a "Black Lives Matter" shirt shot up the home and screamed profanities at police.
The officer had just returned from work but hadn't retired for the night when police say Ratney fired more than a dozen shots from a 9mm handgun. A surveillance camera captured images of a car leaving the area just after the shooting at 2 a.m. Tuesday.
Ratney, who was driving a similar car, was stopped a few blocks away. Police said he became irate during his interrogation with police, cursed at officers and urinated in the interview room.
Detectives searched the house where Ratney was living, as well as another house in the 700 block of North Euclid Avenue and another location, in search of the weapon used to fire on the officer's home.
Two guns, as well as several shell casings at the shooting scene and at the rear of Ratney's house were recovered.
Ratney was released from prison on parole last month after serving nearly six years for unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious felon, the AP reported.
The shooting follows the murders of five Dallas police officers during a Black Lives Matter rally last Friday which was called in response to the deaths of two black men in police action shootings in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.