INDIANAPOLIS — One man is in an Indianapolis hospital after being shot in the eye by a naked man who investigators say randomly fired bullets at passing cars Tuesday night from the parking lot of a north side Indy car dealership.

The shooting incident occurred around 8:10 p.m. Tuesday when Carmel and Indianapolis Metro police were both called to an area near a Tom Wood Porsche dealership in the 3500 block of E. 96th Street for shots fired and a possible active shooter.

Driver shot

Upon arrival, IMPD said officers found a man who had been shot in the face sitting inside a gray 2022 Ford Maverick truck that was parked beside a mortgage bank next to the dealership.

The man, IMPD said, was taken to St. Vincent Hospital in stable condition. Officers seized his truck, which had bullet holes in the front windshield and front passenger window.

An IMPD officer went to St. Vincent to interview the man, who said he was driving eastbound on 96th Street from Keystone Avenue when he “heard a loud boom and felt his face and body be struck,” court documents filed Friday show.

The man told police he pulled over to the side of the road as best he could after being shot but that he couldn’t see well.

At the hospital, doctors found a bullet fragment in his eye and small contusions on his neck and chest. By the time he arrived to the hospital, police said he could not see anymore due to eye swelling.

During his interview with IMPD, the victim told officers he “did not remember seeing anyone or anything amiss” prior to being shot. However, other witnesses had seen a suspect.

Witness testimony

IMPD said multiple witnesses in the area of the Porsche dealership described seeing a naked man who had been shooting at cars in the 3400 block of E. 96th Street.

Two of the people IMPD spoke with were driving when they heard a loud bang, causing their vehicles to collide. One of the drivers told officers she saw a man standing naked, describing him as “in his mid-to-late 50s, unhealthy looking with a white beard”.

One employee at a nearby Toyota dealership had flagged down officers and said he saw a 5’7″-5’10” man with “crappy facial hair, long hair which looked like Albert Einstein on drugs, and a beer belly,” court docs show. He told officers the subject looked “drained and done.”

Another Toyota dealership employee told police he was filling up cars at a nearby GetGo when he heard gunshots and saw a 6’2″-6’5″ man with short, reddish-orange hair throw a handgun into the grass near the Porsche dealership.

The man said the suspect then walked toward the gas station and “jumped like a monkey on top of a Tesla parked nearby”.

Despite the differing witness descriptions of the suspect’s looks, almost everyone police spoke with agreed that it was a naked, white man armed with a black handgun that had been responsible for the shots fired.

The shooter

A few of the witnesses that officers spoke with were able to point them in the direction the naked suspect had last been seen.

Soon after, an IMPD officer found and apprehended a naked white man walking by Wesleyan University in the 3700 block of Priority Way S. Drive.

That man, later identified as 25-year-old Colton Erickson, appeared to be “under the influence of a drug,” police said. He was later taken to Eskenazi Hospital holding for a possible mental health crisis.

IMPD said officers on scene saw a trail of clothing that included underwear, 2 rings, pants, sandals, a hat and a sweatshirt that started at a parked car in the Porsche dealership parking lot and led to where they first found Erickson.

The car where the clothing trail ended, a black 2012 Audi S4 with Utah plates, still had the engine running and the windows down. Inside, police said a shotgun was laying in plain sight on the front passenger seat in addition to a gun box on the floorboard.

The car, IMPD said, was registered to Colton Erickson and another woman.

Around 50 yards away from the parked car, IMPD found a black HK 9 mm handgun lying in the grass. There were also 14 spent 9 mm shell casings found along the sidewalk and in the street.

Investigation and arrest

Around 1:30 a.m. Friday, an IMPD officer spoke with the wife of Colton Erickson. Court docs show the woman said she last saw Colton around 7:30 p.m. and that they had just decided to get divorced. She said she then left to stay at her mother’s house.

The woman told IMPD that she and Colton had moved to Indianapolis from Utah in September. When asked if Colton used drugs, his wife said he smoked weed and ate shrooms. She also said that he had extreme behavior when eating shrooms and could become really mad.

Colton’s wife said that her husband owned two guns, “a big one and a small one”.

A search of Colton’s Audi turned up a 12 gauge shotgun, a surefire gun light, his ID, a grinder and weed, a gun box and a loaded 9 mm magazine.

After being released from the hospital around 2:45 a.m. Friday, IMPD arrested Colton Erickson for Aggravated Battery and Criminal Recklessness. He was then taken to the Criminal Justice Center.

Further damage

IMPD Maj. Mike Leepper also said that at least four vehicles, two that were parked and two that were in motion, were hit by gunfire.

In addition, IMPD confirmed the Porsche dealership was shot twice.

Anyone who believes that their property was also struck is being asked to contact IMPD’s aggravated assault unit or CrimeStoppers of Central Indiana.