Officer Timothy Jacob Laird

Timothy Jacob Laird

Officer Timothy Laird was shot and killed after responding to a call of a man walking in a neighborhood street with a rifle.

At approximately 2:00 am, calls were received that there was a man in the 2700 block of Dietz Street with a rifle and several officers responded. The first officer to arrive was shot and wounded before he exited his patrol car. The suspect then began walking down the street firing the rifle into the air. As Officer Laird drove into the 2800 block he came under fire and as he exited his patrol car, he was fatally wounded when he was struck in the chest above his bullet-resistant vest.

As additional officers responded, they engaged the suspect in a gunbattle in which three other officers were shot and wounded. One of the wounded officers returned fire, striking the suspect in the head and chest, killing him. It was later discovered that the suspect had just murdered his mother in their home and that the suspect suffered from schizophrenia. All four wounded officers recovered from their injuries.

Officer Laird had served with the Indianapolis Police Department for nearly 4½ years and was assigned to the South District. He was posthumously awarded the department's Medal of Honor and Purple Heart and had also served in the US Marine Corps for eight years. Officer Laird was survived by his wife and 7-year-old daughter.