Police searched a FedEx facility in Indianapolis and questioned numerous witnesses Friday in search of a motive for the latest mass shooting to upset the U.S. while relatives of victims spend hours talking to their loved ones.
Authorities said the shooter was a man in his twenties. They said they could not yet say why he opened fire with a gun late Thursday night at the FedEx processing center near Indianapolis airport.
Police Chief Randal Taylor noted that a “significant” number of employees at the facility are members of the Sikh community. Taylor spoke from a hotel where family members were waiting for their loved ones. He said he would stay with the families until they got more information.
Deputy Police Chief Craig McCartt said the gunman started shooting at people in the parking lot at random, then entered the building and continued firing. He said the gunman apparently died by suicide shortly before police entered the building.
“There was no confrontation with anyone who was there,” he said. ‘There was no disturbance, and there was no argument. He just looked like he started shooting randomly. ‘
According to McCartt, four people died outside the building and another four inside. Several people were also injured, including five who were taken to hospital.
The slaughter lasted only a few minutes. “It didn’t take very long,” McCartt said.
Officials at the Corion office in Marion County said they could not come to the scene to identify the victims because evidence is still being collected.
The struggling waiting of the families has been exacerbated by the fact that most employees are not allowed to carry cell phones inside the FedEx building, making contact with them difficult.
“If you see notifications on your phone, but you do not receive a text message from your child and you do not receive information and you still do not know where it is … what should you do?” Mindy Carson said early Friday and fought back tears.
At 11:30 a.m., Carson said she had just heard from her daughter, Jessica, who works at the facility and that she was OK.
This has been the last months in a series of mass shootings in the USA. Eight people were fatally shot dead at massage parlors across the Atlanta subway, and ten were shot dead last month at a supermarket in Boulder, Colo.
It was at least the third shooting this year in Indianapolis. Five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot dead in January and a man is accused of killing three adults and a child before kidnapping his daughter during a house robbery in March.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said the community should guard against resignation and “the assumption that it should be just that and that we might as well get used to it.” ‘
President Biden said he was informed about the shooting and called US violence an “epidemic”
“Too many Americans die every day from gun violence. It stains our character and pierces the soul of our nation, “he said in a statement.
House President Nancy Pelosi said she was “terrified and saddened” by the shooting and called for Congress to take action on gun control.
Family and friends are waiting for people who were in the FedEx plant during the shooting Thursday night.
(Mykal McEldowney / Indianapolis Star)
“As we pray for the families of all affected, we urgently need to work to enforce gun violence prevention laws to save lives and prevent this suffering,” the Democratic leader said in a tweet.
A witness said he was working inside the FedEx building when he quickly heard multiple shots.
“I see a man come out with a gun in his hand, and he starts shooting and he yells things I could not understand,” Levi Miller told WTHR-TV. “What I finally did was descend to make sure he did not see me, because I thought he would see me and he would shoot me.”
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb ordered half-staff flags to be flown until Tuesday, and he and others rejected the shooting, with some noticing how frequent such attacks are.
Chris Bavender, a spokesman for the FBI’s office in Indianapolis, said the agency was helping with the investigation.
A man told WTTV that his cousin was shot and wounded while sitting in her car outside the facility.
“She was shot in the left arm,” Parminder Singh said. ‘She’s going well; she is now in the hospital. ‘