1 dead and 5 injured, including a police officer, after shooting near Indianapolis bar

INDIANAPOLIS — One person was killed and five others, including a police officer, were injured during a shooting early Sunday in Indianapolis, authorities said.

Two Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers in full police uniform were working off-duty employment at an east side bar in Indianapolis when a disturbance in the parking lot occurred at around 1:30 a.m. Police said the off-duty officers exchanged gunfire with at least one suspect.

"At some point, there was an exchange of gunfire between the two officers and at least one suspect resulting in the officer being shot," Indianapolis police Chief Christopher Bailey said during a news conference. "Fellow officers provided the officer with medical treatment and he was transported to a local hospital."

According to Bailey, the officer is in stable condition and expected to be released from the hospital on Sunday. Additional officers responded to the scene and discovered four other people with gunshot wounds in the parking lot, including two 45-year-old men, a 42-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman.

The victims were transported to nearby hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, Bailey said. Police are working to determine how the victims sustained their injuries.

Multiple officers at the scene had active body cameras during the shooting, according to police. One firearm was found at the scene. Shortly after the shooting, police said a man arrived at a local hospital with gunshot wounds.

"Despite the best efforts of medical professionals, the male did not survive his injuries," Indianapolis police said in a news release. "Detectives believe these incidents are connected."

The officers who fired their firearms have been placed on administrative leave, in accordance with standard procedure when officers attempt to use deadly force, according to police.

Latest shooting in Indianapolis

Two other people were killed in unrelated shootings in Indianapolis overnight. As of Sunday, The Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported that there have been 10 separate shootings in the city since March 3.

On March 16, a 37-year-old man was killed and five others injured in a shooting at an Indianapolis bar. Officers in the area responded to the bar, located in a neighborhood north of downtown, after hearing gunshots around 1 a.m.

Officers found five men inside the establishment with gunshot wounds, one of whom later died after being taken to a local hospital. A sixth gunshot victim drove himself to the hospital, and investigators determined the man had also been injured at the bar.

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Gun violence across the United States

As of Sunday, more than 3,600 people have been killed by gun violence and nearly 6,400 have been injured, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.

In 2021, the most recent year for which complete data on U.S. gun-related incidents is available, 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries, the Pew Research Center said in a 2023 analysis. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that more Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2021, more than any other year on record.

Although a majority of gun-related deaths in the nation are suicides, the CDC said about 43% were murders in 2021. The record number of gun-related deaths in 2021 was a 23% increase from 2019 — prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Pew Research Center.

"Gun murders, in particular, have climbed sharply during the pandemic, increasing 45% between 2019 and 2021," the Pew Research Center said.

Contributing: Rory Appleton, Indianapolis Star

Contact IndyStar reporter Bradley Hohulin at bhohulin@gannett.com. You can follow him on Twitter/X @BradleyHohulin.