INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - Tensions were high as dozens of people gathered near the intersection of 62nd and Michigan Road, where a man died in an officer-involved shooting Wednesday night.
Among the crowd were several distraught family members.
"Just to know it's my little brother...I shouldn't have to bury my little brother," Jazmine Reed said.
She said the man killed was her 21-year-old brother Sean Reed, a Lawrence North High School graduate who spent a year in the Air Force, splitting his time between Texas and Indianapolis.
Like thousands of others, she and Sean Reed's aunt, Ashley Reed, learned of his death while watching his live broadcast on Facebook.
"He was like 'Oh, sh--!' and he fell and I heard gunshots and he fell," Ashley said.
"As soon as I seen the phone saying broadcasting...remember him saying 62nd and Michigan Road, so I drove up Michigan Road and when I got up here and and ran through, there was a cop standing right next to me and I think it was him, and I said, 'What's going on with my little brother?'" Jazmine recalled. "And he looked at me dead in my face and said, 'I don't know what's going on.'"
The shooting occurred after a short high-speed pursuit that police said reached speeds of 90 miles an hour. Police said it began after two officers, including IMPD Chief Randal Taylor, driving north on I-65 saw a vehicle driving recklessly and gave chase.
"I guess [Sean] decided for whatever reason he wanted to do high speed, He didn't think, he was dumb, he didn't always think before doing certain things, which is wrong," Jazmine said.
Still, Ashley and she said Sean was a good person who loved his family.
"His smile, he was a ladies man for sure. I got a 2-year-old, and she loved her uncle so much," Jazmine said.
Her account of what happened differed from police. They said Sean didn't have to die.
"They could have tased him, beat him up," Jazmine said. "He could be behind bars, but now he'll be in a casket the next time I see him."