A 25-year-old woman is dead, after she was reportedly shot by police in South Bend.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Ted Bohner says the woman’s mother asked South Bend police to conduct a welfare check Wednesday afternoon, saying her daughter was having a “mental episode.” She believed her daughter was in the area of Cleveland Road and Portage Avenue and was possibly armed.
Bohner says it was about two minutes after officers encountered her at a nearby gas station that there was a call of shots fired. “That’ll be part of the investigation, too – by reviewing body-worn cameras, security footage – exactly what happened from arrival to that action that happened,” Bohner told reporters Wednesday.
State police say surveillance footage appears to show the woman pull out a handgun before shots were fired by police. She was taken to the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
Investigators are still looking into how many shots were fired and who shot them. South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski says at least one of his officers fired, but there were also St. Joseph County police officers on the scene.
Indiana State Police investigators’ findings will be shared with the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office for review.
