FedEx Facility Mass Shooting, 8 Killed: Indianapolis Police Press Conference Transcript

Mayor Joe Hogsett: (00:09) Well, thank you for joining us this morning. Last night, Indianapolis was revisited by the scourge of gun violence that has killed far too many in our community and in our country. Although we will learn more about this case in the coming days and in the coming weeks, no piece of information will restore the lives that were taken or the peace that was shattered. Nothing we learn can heal the wounds of those who escaped with their lives but who will now bear the scars and endure the memories of this horrific crime. What we are left with this morning is grief. Grief for the families of those killed, grief for the employees who have lost their coworkers and grief for the many Americans struggling to understand how tragedies like this continue to occur again and again. Mayor Joe Hogsett: (01:34) They join the Indianapolis community in trying to understand this senseless violence. And it seems to me that beyond the need of comfort for the grieving, we must guard against resignation or even despair. The assumption that this is simply how it must be and that we might as well get used to it. We need the courage that compels courageous acts that push past weariness. I want to thank the first responders who arrived at the scene, the IEMS personnel who provided medical care to those injured and the brave IMPD officers who responded and who are now investigating the events of last night. By all accounts, these women and these men acted heroically caring for victims and families and bringing order to a chaotic environment. Mayor Joe Hogsett: (02:59) I'll close by saying this. Indianapolis is a resilient community. Last night was a devastating blow and its impact will be felt by our community for days and weeks to come. But in times of despair, I know that our residents will rally together and help one another make it through. The eyes of the nation are on Indianapolis today in ways that we would never have hoped for. And for those who only know of this city, what they have learned when we are hosting major events on a global stage, they would be forgiven for simply believing that the people of Indianapolis are known for kindness shown to those who come to visit. Mayor Joe Hogsett: (04:07) What they cannot see in those moments and what is difficult for us who live here to see in these moments is that this spirit of generosity and radical love is shared not just by our residents, but between our residents. It is what makes this a special place that we are proud to call home in times of triumph and in times of tragedy. It is what gives us the strength to see through the darkness and find the light of love that exists within each of us. It is what gives us hope, and no crime of passion or active hate can take that away from us. Not today, not ever. Mayor Joe Hogsett: (05:16) I'll turn it over now to the chief of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Chief Randal Taylor. Chief Randal Taylor : (05:35) This morning, for the third time since January, our community woke up to news of a senseless crime that will not soon leave our memory. This is unacceptable for Indianapolis. IMPD officers went towards danger as they typically do and when they arrived on the scene, they found something that really no one should see. We've all been shaken by this heinous act. I will tell you the one thing that drew me to Indianapolis when I first came here in '93 was for such a big city to have such a small town feel and heart. Our IMPD chaplains have been on the scene since early this morning providing care and comfort and support to the families of the victims. Chief Randal Taylor : (06:36) My heart is broken over the lives that were lost. FedEx is a major employer in this city. If you ask around, there's numerous people, myself included, that had family and friends that worked for this great company and they have built bonds, whether they worked there for a short time or a long time. I can only imagine what the surviving victims and their coworkers are going through, but we're truly with them. The crime scene remains active. IPD along with public safety partners will continue to work at the scene for as long as it takes to ensure a thorough investigation is complete. You'll soon hear from Deputy Chief Craig McCart who will share what we know to this point, but that information will be limited. Chief Randal Taylor : (07:36) I can share a few things with you though. I know the first responders did an incredible job. You more than likely will hear stories of their bravery as this develops. I know it's going to take time for us to learn more about what happened last night and I don't honestly know that we'll ever really know all the ins and outs to why this occurred, but we'll certainly do our best. But I do know our community stands together. That was evident through services that were rendered by companies here like Indigo, Holiday Inn, and also with our law enforcement partners. I'd like to thank personally Superintendent Doug Carter and the state police for their help and also our other federal partners who are always by our side. Now I'll introduce one of those partners, FBI Special Agent in Charge, Paul Keenan. Paul Keenan: (08:42) Thank you, Chief. As the Chief said, my name is Paul Keenan. I'm the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Indianapolis field office. First and foremost, I offer my sincere condolences on behalf of the FBI to the family and loved ones of the victims of the senseless violence that took place last night. While we mourn the devastating loss of their lives, we are dedicated to honoring their memory through a meticulous investigation. FBI in Indianapolis is part of this community and we stand with our friends and our neighbors to condemn this violent act that has impacted so many. Paul Keenan: (09:18) I stand here today with my partners because whenever there is a tragedy such as this, the FBI surges resources to assist our law enforcement partners in addressing those immediate needs. FBI personnel are assisting the crime scene, conducting interviews, assisting on the search of the suspect's home and will provide any technical expertise requested by the IMPD. Many of you have already asked what the motive of this shooting was, and with less than 12 hours since the shooting, it would be premature to speculate on that motivation. I can tell you that there is no further threat and updates will continue to be shared as there are more details. We're grateful for our strong partnerships with the law enforcement in Indiana... Paul Keenan: (10:03) We're grateful for our strong partnerships with the law enforcement in Indiana. As we have done in other cases, the FBI will dedicate all available resources to follow every lead, and use all investigative capabilities to seek justice and bring closure for the victims' families. Next up, I'd like to introduce Deputy Chief Craig McCart from the IPD. Thank you. Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (10:30) Good morning. First of all, I'd just like to reiterate some of what's already been said, recognize this horrible tragedy that our community has experienced this morning, and certainly our condolences go out to the victims, their families, their friends, their loved ones, and our thoughts and prayers are certainly with all those who are affected by this violence. We know that that's far-reaching, that this violence is far-reaching, so we keep all of them in our thoughts as we move forward. Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (11:03) So I will quickly go through how this investigation has progressed, and again, bear with me; there's going to be a lot of questions that you may have after I'm done that I may not be able to answer. We're still working on those answers, this investigation is very much still in its infancy, but I will answer what I can after we're done. Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (11:28) So, late last night, officers received a run of shots fired to the FedEx facility. When officers arrived, they found a very chaotic and active crime scene. They found several victims injured, and several victims deceased, as well as the suspect, who was deceased as well of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Detectives were summoned to the scene. We began interviews with the many witnesses that were on scene. Crime lab responded, and we began to process that crime scene, and that continues now, and we're still several hours from being able to complete that at this time. So there's still a lot of work to do out there. Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (12:18) Our Victim Assistance and Chaplain's Office also responded to the scene to assist with the witnesses, victim families, and [IndyGo 00:12:29] was at the scene to help us transport employees, witnesses, and families to the family reunification site, which was a nearby hotel, and so we continue to work with those employees and families as we work through identification, and speaking with those families. Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (12:52) Before I open anything up for questions, I want to recognize the work that's being done out there as we speak by our detectives, and the help that we have received from other law enforcement agencies. I'd like to also give a thank you to the state police; they were a huge help last night as their detectives worked right alongside with ours. They allowed us to use this facility, not only for this event, but for interviews last night. IndyGo, as I've already said, our federal partners who have been right beside us throughout this investigation as well. We will now work alongside the coroner's office, as we work through victim identification. So, again, just a big thank you to all those folks, the Victim Assistance Unit, the Chaplain's Office. We couldn't have done this without the help that we've received today, and certainly our crime lab techs have been out there all night as well. So if there are specific questions now, I will open it up for those questions. Again, I will try to answer whatever I can. Speaker 1: (14:06) [inaudible 00:14:06]. I know you can't give a bunch of information at this point [inaudible 00:14:11], but what can you tell us about the suspect? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (14:14) I can really tell you very little, and the reason is we are still working to identify everybody that is still on scene there. So we are not able to make positive identification of the suspect, so there's really not much that we can say about him until we have made positive identification. Speaker 1: (14:33) To follow up, were any of the eye witnesses that you were able to talk to, did any of them say anything about the suspect? Did they recognize the person? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (14:41) So what we did find preliminarily from the interviews that were conducted was that the suspect came to the facility, and when he came there, he got out of his car and pretty quickly started some random shooting outside the facility. There was no confrontation with anyone that was there. There was no disturbance. There was no argument. He just appeared to randomly start shooting, and that began in the parking lot, and then he did go into the building, into the facility for a brief period of time before he took his own life. Speaker 1: (15:18) What connection, if any, [inaudible 00:15:21] shooter have to the FedEx facility and it's employees? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (15:25) We don't know that. Again, that's difficult to determine until we make positive identification. So we're certainly working with the FedEx organization and trying to establish all those connections, but we just can't do that yet. Speaker 1: (15:40) [inaudible 00:15:40], you're saying you don't have a firm identification of the culprit, but the Special Agent says there [inaudible 00:15:49] to his house. Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (15:52) And that's accurate. I mean, we have an idea, we have some other leads that led us to that location, but again, until we make positive identification along with the Coroner's Office, we're not going to obviously identify anybody. Speaker 1: (16:11) But there is a search going on in somebody's house. Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (16:15) There's all kinds of things going on in the investigation, but yes, that is one of them. Speaker 1: (16:18) A search of the individual you think was the shooter? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (16:22) Potentially. Yes. Speaker 1: (16:24) How many weapons [inaudible 00:16:26]. Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (16:27) I can't tell you that yet. Again, the crime lab is still out there collecting all that evidence, and we can't determine those things until they've completed. Speaker 1: (16:36) Did your witnesses tell you that perhaps at FedEx or security personnel, or off duty law enforcement personnel, at the site yesterday, had indication that perhaps this [inaudible 00:16:48] was going to occur, or somebody's going to come back with a gun? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (16:52) No. We're still working with FedEx security, for anything that might have been an indicator that this was going to happen, but right now we don't have those ties. And again, [inaudible 00:17:08] it's still very early, still in the infancy. So we're still doing those interviews. We're still working closely with FedEx, to find those things out. Speaker 1: (17:16) Was he shooting guns when police arrived? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (17:24) Yes. My understanding is that by the time that officers entered, that the situation was over, that the suspect took his life very shortly before officers actually entered the facility. it? Speaker 1: (17:39) How long do you think [inaudible 00:17:41]? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (17:44) You know, it's hard to say exactly, but the estimates that we have heard are just a couple minutes, that it did not last very long. Speaker 1: (17:52) And you can't confirm that the suspect is an employee? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (17:57) No, we can not confirm that yet. Speaker 2: (17:59) Okay. How many people were in the building at the time? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (18:03) I can't tell you that; that would be a question that the, that someone from the FedEx organization would have to answer. I don't know the number. I don't know that number right now. Speaker 2: (18:13) How many were transported to hospital? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (18:17) So, what we have right now is that there were five that were transported from the scene. Four of those had suffered what appeared to be non-fatal gunshot wounds, and then there was another injury of some sort that was a [inaudible 00:18:31] sort of injury that was transported as well. Speaker 3: (18:33) Several employees have said that it's FedEx policy that they can't take their cellphones into the facility [inaudible 00:18:41], was there any [inaudible 00:18:46]? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (18:46) No, I think that we were contacted very quickly once things started happening. Now, what I have heard is that, part of the frustration in family notification has been due to, a lot of these employees did not have cellphones as they flee the building, and to get transported to other places, they're without their cell phones. And so they had a hard time getting with family. So, that was certainly frustrating for those employees, as well as their families. Speaker 3: (19:14) Is there surveillance video of the incident? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (19:17) We're checking for surveillance video. And certainly, one would think in a large facility like that, that at some point there's going to be some video that we're able to obtain. Speaker 3: (19:29) Did any witnesses indicate to you that they thought maybe there was another employee who attempted to retrieve the firearm and potentially stop this incident from occurring? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (19:38) I heard that kind of anecdotally, but I have not heard that that was reported to law enforcement, to this point. Now, we were doing lots of interviews still, so [inaudible 00:19:48] it's not accurate, but I have not heard it from people within my own organization. Speaker 3: (19:52) Was there a shift change going on, which is why [inaudible 00:19:56] in the parking lot? I'm trying to understand why that time of night. Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (20:00) We haven't determined that yet, but I know there are some places where- Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (20:03) We haven't determined that yet, but I know there are some places where I think a lot of the employees take breaks and lunches and things like that out in that area as well. It could have been a shift change as well. I don't have that answer right now. Speaker 4: (20:15) The scope of the investigation, facility's quite massive. I'm not asking for graphic details, but you said it's going to take a couple of hours. Can you give us an inside look as to what are you doing in that building? What are you collecting? Then also, sir, followup question, how many people have been interviewed [inaudible 00:20:34] as part of the investigation? Thank you. Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (20:38) So first, it's not just inside the building where we continue to work and process the crime scene because, as I indicated, it started outside the building. Crime lab personnel have a painstaking process, a very organized process of documenting all the evidence that's there on the scene. That will start with diagrams and pictures and videos and then the actual physical collection of any evidence that's on the scene. There's a big area. Like I said, we started outside, and then we went into the facility. So all that's going to take a while. Speaker 5: (21:16) Mayor, this is the third time [inaudible 00:21:21] Mayor: (21:28) Well, in response to the question, I would point to the fact that just last week I signed onto a letter from over 150 mayors around the country asking for the United States Senate to consider legislation that would expand background checks to be required when firearms are transferred between private citizens and to close the Charleston loophole, which allows federally-licensed firearm dealers to transfer guns to customers before an adequate background check is completed. The fact that I joined with 150 other mayors in asking the federal legislature to do that at least indicates what I would like to see done legislatively. Mayor: (22:28) My concern about the Indiana General Assembly is, I believe they only have three or four days left in this particular session. But I certainly will make it clear to our Governor and to the legislative leadership where I stand on these issues. Speaker 6: (22:49) Mr. Mayor, you were in contact with the White House, contact that you give us ... Again, not disclosing any privileged conversation, but can you share with us what was that conversation like at the White House? [inaudible 00:23:00] offer any services or resources to Indianapolis? Mayor: (23:05) Well, as most people know, the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States is a North Central High School grad from Indianapolis, Indiana, so it was not at all unusual that he would reach out to me. Basically, the offer was, "Anything you need, Mayor. We stand ready to assist." It was not a direct communication. It was just text messaging. I, of course, responded thanking him and told him that we would keep him made aware of the progress of the investigation. If the White House was able to do anything support, I'm certainly not hesitant to ask for it. Speaker 6: (23:46) Mr. Mayor, cities are always looking for resources from the federal government. If there are things that you could ask the White House, what resources could the men and women of Metro Police and the other agencies that are under your purview, what would you ask them for at this moment in time? Mayor: (24:03) Well, we're always deeply appreciative of federal support, whether that come by way of dollars or otherwise. Frankly, the city of Indianapolis is grateful. For example, the CARES Act provided $168 million. Many of those dollars went to our first responders last year. According to the American Rescue Plan, I believe Indianapolis may very well be receiving over the course of the next two years, $425 million. I have no doubt, although we have not made any decisions about how to utilize that money, I have no doubt that that money will also be used for law enforcement and first responder support. So any time Washington makes the offer, we're very grateful and certainly inclined to accept. Speaker 7: (25:02) Mayor, how does the community feel [inaudible 00:25:05]. This is the third time that they're waking up this year alone to a [inaudible 00:25:09]. Mayor: (25:11) Yeah, I think that the community needs to engage in serious conversations, and not just our community, but I think conversations need to be held around our country. Those conversations should be driven by the extraordinary proliferation of guns and cycles of violence that in 147 instances already this year have plagued communities around our country. Unfortunately for the city of Indianapolis, this is the third mass killing that we have experienced. So the process of healing will take time, but I think healing does depend on meaningful conversations between people about how we stop this cycle of violence that's driven by readily-accessible guns. I certainly intend to lead in that regard. Speaker 8: (26:13) We've been told that the suspect was allegedly shot and killed himself, so what weapon was found with him and is that the only weapon you believe was used in this shooting? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (26:34) We believe that there was a rifle involved. We don't have the specifics on the weapon yet as, again, we're still processing that. All that hasn't been collected yet. But we do believe right now that he had a rifle. Speaker 9: (26:49) Can you talk a little bit about the process for identifying families that's still going on right now and communicating with families? Is this typical procedure setting up at, say, a hotel [inaudible 00:27:03]? How long might we expect that procedure to take? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (27:07) I guess I hesitate to say typical because thankfully we don't do this very often, and I'm sorry that we had to do it today. But yes, we do have our victim assistance counselors. We have our chaplains at a nearby hotel, which is where we took employees to, which is where we had family meet them. Obviously, there are families who are still trying to locate loved ones and family members, so we continue to stand by their side until such time when we can either locate those family members or identify them as a victim that we have on the scene. Speaker 10: (27:39) You described the weapon as a rifle, sir. Was the weapon in any capacity altered or changed to allow the ... Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (27:48) Way too early to ... At this point, really, it hasn't even been touched as we still document everything. Speaker 10: (27:53) Thank you, sir. Speaker 11: (27:53) You brought up the suspect's car. Is that under investigation as well? Do you know which car was his? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (28:01) Oh, absolutely. That's part of the scene, so we're making sure that we have correctly identified the car that we believe that he showed up in. Then, absolutely, we will process that as part of the crime scene. Speaker 12: (28:14) How many people were shot and killed inside and then outside the building? Can you say that? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (28:21) I believe that we had four outside and then four inside, plus the suspect. Speaker 13: (28:33) Don't they have armed security inside? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (28:37) That I don't know. Speaker 13: (28:38) Certainly you've been able to identify some of these victims so far. Everybody that goes in and out of the building has some kind of name tag on. Have you been able to contact any families yet? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (28:50) We really haven't. I mean, nothing gets moved. We don't check wallets. We don't check purses until everything is appropriately documented. I mean, there may be some fairly simple ways to identify, and we'll work with the coroner's office to make sure that that's done appropriately with those families. But to this point, we have not identified any family of victim. Speaker 14: (29:14) [inaudible 00:29:14] Indianapolis police with the names of the these people and for the suspect, how long do you think it's going to take before you're going to let their neighbors what's happening? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (29:25) That might be a better question for the coroner's office because they make that official identification, but I would think hopefully in the next 24 hours that maybe we can do that. Speaker 15: (29:38) [crosstalk 00:29:38] victims been removed from the site? Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (29:43) I don't believe so. When we came in here, they were still a couple hours away. You want to address that? Speaker 16: (29:50) Sir, before you leave the podium, what was happening at that time? Were people sorting packages? I mean, can you give an idea? I think I know what happens at FedEx, but what were those folks doing before this happened? [crosstalk 00:30:03]. Deputy Chief Craig McCart: (30:03) Again, that's a- Reporter: (30:03) What were those folks doing before this happened, do you have any idea? Craig: (30:03) You know, again, that's a question that I'm probably not qualified to answer. That would be best served to ask the FedEx folks. They have some different facilities, different things happen at different facilities. And I don't specifically know what the folks inside here were responsible for. Reporter: (30:21) Sir, thank you. Reporter 2: (30:22) How many people were injured and how many hospitals were used last night? Craig: (30:27) So, like I said, I believe we had five that were injured. And I can't say with certainty, how many different hospitals that they went to. I believe we had at least three, but I'm not certain of that. And I'll let [Alfie 00:30:45] McGinty address the victim identification issues. And if you have any questions for her. Alferina McGinty: (31:02) Good afternoon. On behalf of the Marion County Coroner, Dr. Leandrea Sloan, my name is [Alferina 00:31:10] McGinty, and we are in the process of conducting our investigation. As has been stated, what we typically have to do is wait until all of the evidence has been collected. We are not able to go onto the scene yet to confirm any identities. What we will do is we will work with the victim's assistance, as well as the chaplains at the identified location for the families to reunify those families with the decedents. We will utilize as much information as possible. That is on those decedents that are at the scenes to make that positive identification. As you all know, Indiana is very specific in how positive identification can be done, which is identification by a family member, dental, DNA, and fingerprints. And so adhering to all of those measures, we must make sure that the people that are identified on the scene are accurately and appropriately, positively identified. And so that process will take a little bit of time. Alferina McGinty: (32:17) We have some information so far as to what families are waiting, their loved ones, to be identified or to turn up somewhere and so we are going to be working with those families to efficiently and very effectively confirm the positive identification. We are still a number of hours out before we are able to go onto the scene to conduct our investigation, and then after that, we will work with the families. Alferina McGinty: (32:45) Following that process, what we will have to do is we will perform our examinations. We will be calling in additional staff and so additional resources will be available or need to be available to us for the additional staff to be brought in for those examinations to be done within the next 48 to 72 hours to confirm the actual cause of the death. Any other questions? Reporter 3: (33:14) Have all the workers who left who were there last night, have they been confirmed? Have they all- Alferina McGinty: (33:20) I don't have the information. [crosstalk 00:33:21] I don't know. Reporter 3: (33:20) Inside the building? Craig: (33:22) I don't think there's anyone still there, but I can't say that for sure. Reporter 4: (33:33) Can you identify the sexes or divisions? Reporter 2: (33:36) At this time, we have not been able to go onto the scene to do any of that. Preliminarily, what we will do is I will send information to the rest of the investigating team so that that information can be shared as we get updated information on identities, age, race, gender, and those things that are important for the family members and the community to know. Reporter: (34:06) Okay. Can you talk about your office, specifically as part of the larger public safety family, we've seen a lot of death this year at the hands of mass shooters. Can you just put that into perspective with us? How are you doing? Alferina McGinty: (34:17) It is a very difficult job. I've been with the coroner's office for 23 years. I've not seen this capacity in terms of the numbers of mass fatality shootings in a short period of time. It is very disturbing for our entire community. The staff is definitely suffering and is going to need long-term counseling with regard to these types of deaths. We've had to pull in all of our 30 staff to conduct these death investigations and to work with the families because we do still have follow up information and things that have to be done and shared with the families. It is very time consuming. So it definitely takes a toll on our staff. And again, we are asking for additional resources so that we will have the capacity to handle these types of death investigations unfortunately Reporter: (35:08) You specifically, ma'am, you deal with that almost every day, how is this any different on this scene? Can you just explain the difference? Alferina McGinty: (35:08) Sure. Reporter: (35:16) I don't do your job. Alferina McGinty: (35:17) Right. So the scope is pretty significant when you have this number of people. So pulling in all of our staff that are available, calling people from other jobs that have to come in and assist as well as surrounding county corners that are able to come in and assist us with these types of investigations. Additionally, we've seen an increase in death investigations in general over the last couple of years and we are trying to work with our law enforcement partners to understand and address these issues that are causing this increase in death investigations. And so that is something that our staff definitely has been working through over the last two years to be able to handle these things because it is mentally draining. It is physically draining. We're going to work for literally the next 24 to 48 hours just to give answers to the families. Alferina McGinty: (36:12) Our first priority is to the families in identifying the decedent, who the decedent is, as well as determining the cause and manner of death, providing death certificates for those families so that they can move on with their information and things that they need to do with regard to the loss of their loved ones. So our hearts definitely go out to those surviving family members that are going to deal with this lifelong tragedy. Reporter 4: (36:38) One more, Craig, a question about identification. If you can't identify the suspect and the victim, can we see that everybody is okay and then identify, reuniting the family member and release? Craig: (36:57) I think that's a safe assumption, but yet I can't say that for certain. We think that we have reunited families and workers. And certainly all of those who have been treated at the hospital have been reunited with family. But again, I haven't been over there. So I don't want to say for certain that that's the case, but I believe right now that we have.