INDIANAPOLIS — An investigation into a rollover crash on Emerson Avenue early Saturday changed quickly when investigators figured out both people in the car had been shot on nearby I-70.
Both victims were taken to the hospital. The driver died but the passenger is expected to survive.
Indiana State Police Sgt. John Perrine said investigators believe people in another vehicle fired at the two victims multiple times.
“We’re still trying to determine what the motive is,” Perrine said. “Whether it was known parties to one another or it was road rage related.”
No suspect information is out right now.
The Marion County Coroner’s Office identified the driver killed as 30-year-old Anthony Shelman Jr.
“We’re seeing a very concerning trend in recent years with interstate shootings,” Perrine said.
This is the 11th interstate shooting ISP has investigated in the Indianapolis area this year.
“Last year we had 66 interstate shootings through the entire year and, unfortunately, we’re on that same pace this year,” Perrine said.
It’s unclear right now if the shooting Saturday morning was road rage but Perrine said that’s a problem they’re seeing more and more of.
“This year we’ve had 53 reports of a gun being displayed or waved during a road rage incident,” he said.
Kimble Richardson, a licensed mental health counselor at Community Health Network, thinks part of the increase is people still getting used to being around others after the pandemic.
“We’re not used to having some patience and waiting, we have a little bit shorter fuse,” Richardson said.
Richardson encourages every driver to have a little extra grace with others, you never know what someone else is going through.
“Just taking those little pauses, even for a few seconds, make all the difference and could be life or death,” Richardson said.
ISP is asking any drivers with dash cams who might’ve been in the area of I-70 and Emerson Ave. Saturday morning around 3:30 a.m. to check their footage.
”They don’t realize they may have caught a crime or the aftermath of a crime on their dash cam but possibly they did,” Perrine said.
