By SUMMER BALLENTINE,
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The
Indianapolis police chief says a sergeant on administrative leave used someone
else's car to break through police surveillance and fatally shoot his ex-wife
and himself.
Chief Rick Hite says Sgt. Ryan
Anders broke in a back door of Officer Kimberlee Carmack's far west side home
Thursday evening before shooting both Carmack and himself.
Both officers were on
administrative leave during an internal police investigation of what Hite on
Friday called mutual issues between them.
Carmack was a 20-year veteran
of the department. Anders had been on the police force for nine years and was
promoted to sergeant in 2011.
They divorced last year.
An internal tip on Feb. 18
spurred the investigation, Hite said. Both told stories that led the department
to put them on administrative leave during the investigation and confiscate
their police weapons. Spokesman Sgt. Kendale Adams said Carmack had access to a
safe house.
Hite said preliminary results
of the internal investigation into the allegations were given to the Marion
County prosecutor's office on April 1, and a hearing was set for April 29.
Both were given access to a
police wellness program and employee assistance. Carmack was assigned a
domestic violence advocate.
Electronic surveillance was
used to track Anders' location, and police checked-in daily with both Anders
and Carmack. Hite said Carmack later decided to leave the safe house against
advice from the department.
A protective order against
Anders took effect March 31. Hite said he eluded police surveillance using
another person's car to drive where Carmack was staying.
"There are times when we
as an agency do due diligence of making sure people are safe," Hite said.
"But if someone is determined to carry out a particularly violent crime
... these things happen."
The apparent murder-suicide
rocked the Indianapolis police force, Hite said. Carmack's son is an officer,
and Anders was the son of a retired city police officer.
The city's Fraternal Order of
Police opened its headquarters Thursday night to offer counseling to officers.
"Sometimes we forget
police are not robots," Hite said. "We're people, too."