SHELBYVILLE -
State Police are investigating the shooting of an armed suspect by Shelbyville police officers late Saturday night.
Police say 22-year-old Lyman Dawson was spotted attempting to break into a vehicle at the Family Video store at Colescott Street and SR 9 in Shelbyville around 11 p.m. Saturday.
"Somebody came in and said that somebody had been breaking into their car and they called police and I went back to my regular business, then we heard gun shots," said store employee Joey Justice.
Dawson fled on foot and followed the residents of a home as they pulled into their driveway in the 1000 block of Colescott. After a verbal exchange with the residents, Dawson reportedly pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and fired as many as three shots in indiscriminate directions.
"Just chaos and gunfire everywhere," said Jessica Moore.
Moore and Jason Sirk were home watching a movie with their children when Sirk heard something outside.
"I looked out the window and saw the guy, he was standing on the side of the house and I was just, like, wondering what he was doing, but didn't think nothing of it. We sat back down and watched the movie and it was probably 10 minutes later we started hearing shots," Sirk said.
One of the bullets nearly went through their living room.
"Just ran all the kids upstairs, made them stay upstairs and we were just down here watching the windows and trying to see what we could see so nobody got in our house," Moore said.
Investigators say Dawson broke into a home in the 700 block of Elm Street, startling the residents, before fleeing back to Harrison Street (SR 9). In the 700 block of Harrison Street, a resident, Ryan Rooks, yelled at Dawson, asking him what all of the noise was about. Dawson allegedly raised the pistol and shot Rooks in the leg.
Dawson then broke the basement window of another home on Harrison Street, entering the home then exiting by breaking another window. He was then confronted outside by three Shelbyville police officers, who ordered him to drop the gun. Instead, they say he fired a shot at them.
"As a result of that encounter, the officers felt it was necessary to shoot at the suspect. The suspect was hit multiple times," said ISP Capt. Dave Bursten.
Several area businesses and residences were reportedly locked down for several hours as police investigated the scene. Harrison Street was closed into Sunday afternoon south of downtown Shelbyville so police could continue the investigation.
Police thoroughly checked each home involved in the incident for evidence and collected shell casings from Dawson's pistol and the weapons of officers involved in the shooting.
Dawson was reported in critical condition at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis after he was transported by air ambulance early Sunday morning.
The officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation into the shooting.
Just a few blocks from the scene, police spent Saturday investigating the suspicious death of a 74-year-old woman.
"Is it safe here anymore?" Moore asked. "This isn't like Shelbyville. Scary."
Lyman Dawson
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