PUBLIC SAFETY

Teen carjacking suspect shot by IMPD had troubled past

Madeline Buckley, Jill Disis, and Robert King
Andre Green

Andre Green, a troubled teen who had run away from home, spent time in juvenile court and had at least one serious brush with the law, sat on the steps of an Indianapolis church a couple of weeks ago and told a mentor that he had been “staying out of the way” of trouble.

Green, who was 15, told the mentor he had dreams of finishing high school and going to college, maybe Indiana University.

But then came Sunday night.

Police say Green and two others were involved in a carjacking on the Eastside at about 10 p.m. After the carjacking in the 3100 block of Thompkins Square Court, they say four shots were fired from the car at a bystander. Soon, police were on the car’s trail and eventually, with Green behind the wheel, the stolen car turned down a dead-end street, the 3300 block of Butler Avenue. As police closed in, police say two of the passengers fled on foot, leaving Green alone in the car.

That is when police say Green steered the car, a Nissan Altima, toward three officers who had closed in on him.

They opened fire.

Green stumbled — badly wounded — out of the car, police say. A handgun was found nearby. Within 10 minutes, medics arrived and pronounced Green dead.

The Marion County coroner’s office said Wednesday he died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police defended the shooting Monday, saying the officers’ lives were in danger. But at least one person who said he was a witness said it appeared to him that Green wasn’t trying to run the officers down so much as he bumped into the cars while trying to turn around. The shooting, in his view, was unjustified.

Unlike some other police shootings around the country, there appears to be no video of this one. IMPD said its officers don’t wear body cameras — a pilot program that tested them ended last month — and very few IMPD cars are equipped with dashboard cameras. As yet, no independent video of the incident has surfaced.

Shane Evans, who tried to be a mentor to Green when the young man lived until recently in the Mapleton Fall Creek area, said he cried when he heard the news of Green’s death. “I’m sad about the whole situation. I can’t say a lot about it because I don’t know the whole situation,” said Evans, 23. He added: “We all make mistakes.”

Green had attended junior high at George Washington Community High School, friends said. He had intentions of enrolling this year at Arsenal Technical High School but doesn’t appear to have ever made it. School started a week ago.

Evans said Green had taken part a couple of years ago in a program at Broadway United Methodist Church called Miracles at Heart where part of the curriculum involved discussions of how to safely interact with police. Green also had briefly played the violin in a youth orchestra, friends and family said.

Two weeks ago when Evans sat with Green on the church steps, Green had talked about going to college and avoiding trouble, Evans said.

Angela Lamb, one of Green’s great aunts, said Green had been a runaway but he had never disrespected her. “He was a good kid,” she said.

But he was also a troubled boy.

At the time of Sunday’s shooting, court records show, Green was being sought by juvenile authorities for violating the terms of his probation from another auto theft case earlier this year. Records show Green was charged in April with auto theft and criminal mischief.

For that incident, Green appeared several times before a juvenile court judge. On July 14 he was sent home to his mother but with a GPS electronic monitoring bracelet. A week later, Green violated his probation by leaving home without permission. Three weeks ago, Green failed to show for another hearing.

On Monday, police said the ankle monitor was still attached to Green’s ankle when he died. But there were other aspects of the incident that remained unclear.

Police said Green had a handgun, but they couldn’t say whether he had fired it or pointed it at police. They said his decision to drive the car toward officers endangered their lives, but they couldn’t say how fast the car was moving or how much room it had to build momentum before crashing into a patrol car. At least one officer was outside of the patrol car when Green’s vehicle approached.

Police said they were still gathering information. Green was the sixth person killed by IMPD officers this year.

IMPD Assistant Police Chief Lloyd Crowe said the situation was a real threat.

“The officers lives — we feel they were in danger,” Crowe said.

Shattered glass marks the spot where a teen-aged carjacking suspect was shot by police Sunday night.

One person who had a different view of the incident from police was 29-year-old Allen Eaton, who watched the culmination of the chase from the corner of Butler Avenue and 33rd Street.

Eaton said the driver of the car found himself at the dead end — a locked gate blocking him from a nearby public housing complex. His two passengers left the car, and the driver tried turning the car around but backed into the police car. The officers told Green to get out of the car, Eaton said. Then they opened fire.

“He didn’t do nothing that made like he was threatening their life,” Eaton said.

Police declined Monday to say how many rounds officers fired at Green. They also said their investigation would need to be completed before they could say where their shots came from and where they hit. Investigators have not yet found the other passengers of the car.

Call Star reporter Robert King at (317) 444-6089. Follow him on Twitter: @RbtKing.