By JENNIFER RIGG
A Floyd County police officer is dead, along with his 15-year-old suspected killer, Tyler Dumstorf, after shots were fired Monday night in an Edwardsville neighborhood.
Floyd County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Frank Denzinger died from gunshot injuries after being transported Monday evening to University Hospital in Louisville. Joel White, another deputy police say Dumstorf shot, is at the hospital with serious injuries.
Floyd County Coroner Greg Balmer confirmed to The Associated Press that Dumstorf is dead, but police haven’t said how he died.
The tragic evening began shortly after 6 p.m. Monday, when police responded to a 911 call from 6004 Rachel Court — which is technically a Georgetown mailing address — where a mother claimed to be having trouble with her 15-year-old son. When Denzinger and White approached the home, both were shot by a subject inside, police say.
White could be heard over a police scanner speaking with dispatchers.
“I’ve been shot in the leg or hip, I’m not sure,” he told dispatchers. “My leg is destroyed. I’m starting to lose consciousness.”
White also told dispatchers that his partner, Denzinger, had been shot and was next to him, unconscious. He said they had been shot with a “high-powered rifle.”
Hours later, Floyd County Sheriff Darrell Mills confirmed to members of the media that Denzinger — a four-year-veteran with the department — had died at University Hospital. White, he said, was in critical condition, also at University Hospital.
Police were vague about where they believed the shooter was during the course of the evening in western Floyd County. They released a picture and description of Dumstorf before midnight, when Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Jerry Goodin said police had “a reasonable” idea of his location.
About 2:30 a.m., Goodin said police had entered the home just after midnight and found a “young, deceased male” whose appearance was “consistent” with what they knew about Dumstorf, who just finished his freshman year at Floyd Central High School.
“The community is safe again,” he told the media.
Goodin wouldn’t release any more information about the situation and said more details would be available at a press conference at 1:30 p.m. today. He also declined to comment on whether or not a weapon had been recovered.
When asked whether or not Dumstorf had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Goodin said they would “let the autopsy speak for itself.”
Goodin also said two arrests had been made earlier in the evening in the area, but declined to comment on the identities of those people or whether they were related to the alleged shooter.
More than 100 officers with nearly every police agency in and around Floyd County responded to offer help as word of the shootings spread. Goodin said “there was some heroic stuff that happened,” but wouldn’t comment further.
About 25 homes in the area were evacuated and a half-mile perimeter around the house was secured by police. Dumstorf’s mother escaped from the house unharmed.
Stephen Martin, a Corydon Ridge Road resident for five years, said he often walks his dog in nearby Garry E. Cavan Park.
“We just don’t see much like this go on out here,” Martin said. “It’s usually really quiet. It’s a shame something like this has to happen out here.”
Tracy Hancock, Martin’s neighbor, had left her house to get a pack of cigarettes and was stopped by police and not allowed to return to her home as the situation unfolded.
She said she knew Dumstorf because she has two teenage sons. She said she and her husband, Tim, discouraged the boys from hanging out with Dumstorf because the Hancocks had heard the alleged shooter had been in trouble recently.
Sheriff Mills — who was visibly shaken by the shooting — called the evening a trying time and said everyone was “very upset.” He went on to call Denzinger “a very good officer” who originally worked as a Floyd County corrections officer.
Goodin said the whole community should be “enraged” by Monday night’s events.
Evidence technicians with the New Albany Police Department as well as the Indiana State Police were expected to stay on scene most of the night working on what Goodin described as a complex crime scene.
— Staff writer Matthew Ralph contributed to this report.
