Shooting at a FedEx Facility Near Indianapolis Airport leaves 8 dead

A gunman shoot and killed eight people and wounded several others before apparently killing himself in a late-night shooting at a FedEx facility near the Indianapolis airport, Indianapolis Metropolitan police reported, in the latest in a spate of mass shootings after a relative lull during the pandemic.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Public Information Officer Genae Cook told reporters at around 1 a.m. Friday that officers responded to the warehouse shortly after 11 p.m. following reports of gun shots. As officers arrived, they came upon an active shooter, she said.

Officer Genae Cook of the Police Department said that the police were working to identify the gunman and that no law enforcement officers were injured.

FedEx said people who worked for the company were among the dead.

At Friday morning, IMPD noted that “five victims with injuries consistent with gunshot wounds were transported to local hospitals for treatment. Two victims were treated by medics at the scene and released.”

“It is very heartbreaking …,” Cook said. “The officers responded. They came in. They went in, and they did their job. And a lot of them are trying to face this because this is a sight that no one should ever have to see.”

IMPD will work with the Indiana State Police to investigate the shooting and to interview people at the scene and at local hospitals. “This is going to be an investigation that goes on throughout the day,” Cook said. 

IMPD says 8 people have died and multiple others were injured in the mass shooting at the FedEx facility in Indy. pic.twitter.com/CwVCqEhmyn

— WRTV Indianapolis (@wrtv) April 16, 2021

It was at least the third mass shooting this year in Indianapolis alone. Five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot and killed in January, and a man was accused of killing three adults and a child before abducting his daughter during at argument at a home in March.

“We’re still trying to ascertain the exact reason and cause for this incident,” Cook said.

Craig McCartt, the deputy chief of criminal investigations for the Indianapolis police, told CNN in an interview on Friday morning that the police arrived to a chaotic scene, with employees running from the warehouse. When police entered, he said, “they encountered the suspect who immediately took his own life,” he said.

He said the gunman had driven up to the facility, gotten out of his car and immediately started shooting in the parking lot before entering the warehouse. “He did not get very far into the facility at all,” he said. The shooting likely lasted one or two minutes, and police had not yet determined whether the gunman was a FedEx employee, he added.

Family members gathered at a nearby Holiday Inn Express hotel to await word on loved ones — and some employees were bused there for tearful reunions. But other relatives said they still had no information about their loved ones hours later. Most employees aren’t allowed to carry cellphones inside the FedEx building, making contact with them difficult.

FedEx said it is cooperating with authorities.

“We are deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of our team members following the tragic shooting at our FedEx Ground facility in Indianapolis,” the statement said. “Our most heartfelt sympathies are with all those affected by this senseless act of violence.”