Indianapolis Police Officer Shoots Fellow Officer

On Friday night, an off-duty police officer in Indianapolis shot a fellow officer then fled the state. According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, 42-year-old Adrian Aurs, an 18-year veteran of the force, has been charged with attempted murder. Authorities arrested Aurs Friday night in Cincinnati, where local police pulled his car over on I-75. Aurs will now be extradited back to Indiana, Indianapolis police said.

The shooting broke out around 8:30 p.m. Friday night, when officers responded to reports of a domestic violence incident involving an off-duty Indianapolis officer — who was later identified as Aurs — and his wife, authorities said. When police arrived at the apartment, the off-duty officer was not at the scene.

An special investigations official arrived at the scene to begin the investigation about two hours later. As the officer was inside the apartment, Aurs entered and allegedly began firing at the officer, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement. The on-duty officer was struck by at least one bullet, and suffered an injury to his elbow and back. He was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital, where he remains in good condition.

Authorities said the on-duty officer, who has not yet been identified, returned fire. He did not injure Aurs.

Although Aurs' estranged wife and children were in the apartment at the time of the shooting, they were not injured in the shooting. Authorities were also able to figure out early on that the gunman was the same man involved in the earlier domestic violence call.

CNN reported that in addition to being charged with attempted murder, Aurs has been suspended from the police force without pay. He is also pending termination.

It's unclear at this time if Aurs and the on-duty officer knew each other. The on-duty officer was a 20-year veteran of the Indianapolis police force, authorities said.

This shooting is just the latest incident of violence against on-duty police officers in America — an issue that has garnered national attention over the past month following the mass shooting of five Dallas police officers patrolling an anti-police brutality protest. The protest was a demonstration against the recent police killings of two black men in two different states: Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana.

Following the Dallas mass shooting, three police officers were also killed in an ambush in Baton Rouge. These recent shootings have been labeled by some as retaliation for the police shootings of people of color, raising tensions between these two communities and energizing the Blue Lives Matter movement. However, there is no link at this time between these movements and the Indianapolis shooting.