What Happened

At about 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to a disturbance in the 8000 block of East 37th Street, according to WRTV. Police said officers found an armed man who fired at them. Two officers were struck. At least three officers returned fire, and the man died at a hospital.

Police1 reported that both wounded officers were in stable condition. One was transported by ambulance and the other in a police car. WRTV reported that one officer was released from Eskenazi Hospital the next day.

On July 30, WRTV updated its report to say one of the two officers was believed to have been struck accidentally by a round fired by a fellow officer. IMPD's Critical Incident Response Team and Internal Affairs are investigating, and body-worn cameras were active.

"Two of our officers [were] struck by gunfire trying to do their job and wanting to go home to their families every night," IMPD spokesperson Tommy Thompson said, according to Police1.

What is not public: where either officer was hit, what aid was given on scene, how long transport took, and the findings of the investigation.

The Lesson

This is a general principle, not a finding about this response.

Two casualties means two plans at once. When more than one officer is hit, the scene has to handle two patients, a threat and a crime scene at the same time. One of these officers went by ambulance and one by police car. Using a patrol car for rapid transport to a nearby trauma center is a practice some agencies adopt in writing when it is faster than waiting for EMS. If your agency allows it, it should be a planned, trained option with a policy behind it, not something decided on the curb.

Treat before you move, then keep treating. C-TECC's TECC Guidance puts control of massive bleeding first once the threat is managed, then a MARCHE check: major hemorrhage, airway, respirations, circulation, head injury and hypothermia, everything else. The Joint Trauma System's Vascular Injury CPG credits widespread training and use of tourniquets with getting casualties who would have died from extremity bleeding to medical care. That's military data, so treat it as context for police, but the point carries: the officer who rides in a car needs the same bleeding control as the one in an ambulance, and someone in the car has to keep watching it.

Every officer on scene gets checked. In the stress of a gunfight, an officer may not know they've been hit. After the threat stops, every officer on scene should get a quick head-to-toe check, not just the ones who say they're hurt.

What Your Agency Should Do Now

  • Write down your police-transport rule. If officers may transport a wounded officer in a patrol car, spell out when, to which hospital, who rides in back to keep pressure or watch the tourniquet, and how the hospital is notified.
  • Drill two casualties with limited hands. Practice a scenario where two officers are down and only a few are left to secure the scene, treat, and call for EMS.
  • Add a post-shooting body check to every drill. After the last shot in training, have officers check themselves and each other for wounds before anything else.
  • Stock cruisers for patient transport. A trauma kit, gloves and a blanket in the back seat help if the car becomes the ambulance.

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