Police identify Indianapolis shooting suspect
Police on Friday identified the suspected shooter in the attack at an Indianapolis FedEx facility the previous night that left eight people dead as 19-year-old Brandon Scott Hole.
The Indianapolis Metro Police Department confirmed the gunman’s identity in a press briefing Friday afternoon, adding that Hole was a former FedEx employee who was last employed in 2020.
A FedEx spokesperson had confirmed to the AP and The New York Times earlier Friday that Hole used to work for the company, and that it was cooperating closely with investigators.
Indianapolis Police Chief Randal Taylor told reporters that officials were interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence to determine a motive behind the mass shooting, the latest to rock the nation.
Taylor said that a “significant” number of employees at the FedEx location were members of the Sikh community, according to the AP.
Deputy Police Chief Craig McCartt said Friday that the gunman used a rifle to randomly open fire on people in the parking lot and inside the building.
“There was no confrontation with anyone that was there,” McCartt said. “There was no disturbance, there was no argument. He just appeared to randomly start shooting.”
McCartt later said that about 100 employees were present at the facility at the time of the shooting.
Police said that the shooting only lasted a couple of minutes and that the gunman shot and killed himself before police entered the facility.
Four people located outside the building were killed in the shooting, and an additional four were killed inside.
McCartt said that several people were also wounded in the attack, with five people hospitalized.
The AP reported that the Indianapolis coroner’s office has not yet been able to get into the scene to identify the victims, as police were still collecting evidence.
Thursday’s attack follows a string of recent mass shootings across the U.S. and is at least the third mass shooting this year in Indianapolis alone.
The AP noted that in January, five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot and killed, and in March, a man allegedly killed three adults and a child before abducting his daughter following an argument at a home.
President Biden on Friday condemned the latest attack, writing in a statement released by the White House that “gun violence is an epidemic in America.”
“Too many Americans are dying every single day from gun violence,” the president continued. “It stains our character and pierces the very soul of our nation.”
“We can, and must, do more to act and to save lives,” he added.
The president in his statement reiterated calls for Congress to pass gun control prevention legislation, including measures on universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons.
Updated at 4:53 p.m.