Update: ISP investigation of June 18 officer involved shooting continues

So Chesterton Police Chief Tim Richardson told the Police Commission at its meeting Thursday afternoon, July 10.

The ISP “did reach out to me yesterday,” Richardson noted, “and by all indications I expect that the department will get the officers’ handguns back sometime next week. As maybe not everybody knows, when an officer is involved in a shooting, the State Police takes their guns to do ballistics, just as they do any suspect’s guns that are recovered. That’s standard procedure.”

Richardson expects the investigation to be completed “within a week or two,” at which time the ISP will submit its report to the Porter County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office “for them to make a ruling on it.”

Both officers remain on paid administrative leave—which is routine following an officer-involved shooting—while the officer injured by gunfire continues to convalesce. “We wouldn’t invite them to come back to work until after the Indiana State Police investigation is complete,” Richardson emphasized. “I expect it to be a little bit longer for (the wounded officer). But if he could get released for light duty we’ll find a place within the department for however long it takes to get him to where he’s back to full duty.”

The incident began around 8 a.m. June 18, when the two officers were dispatched to the Hilton Garden Inn, 501 Gateway Blvd., to investigate a complaint about a suspicious person who’d been in the hotel and was not a guest. On their arrival, the officers approached the suspect and a confrontation took place, during which the officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect.