PUBLIC SAFETY

Fleeing prisoner shoots himself near school

Madeline Buckley
madeline.buckley@indystar.com
Police cars block drive entrances at Perry Meridian schools.

Parents of Perry Meridian students received a frightening text from school administrators Monday morning, just after many of them dropped their students off at school.

The text notified them that there was a shooting on school property, but many parents were quickly relieved to learn that the shooting did not involve, or harm, any students.

"I thought the worst," said Dave Dingess, who is the parent of a middle school student.

A Kentucky state inmate, identified as John Foster, escaped from a work release program in Oldham County, Ky., just outside of Louisville. Officials said he stole a car and came to Indianapolis, where he led police on a short chase that ended in the Perry Meridian Middle School parking lot.

When he realized he was cornered, police said, he shot himself in the neck.

A reserve Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officer working security at the school fired at Foster when he saw him draw his weapon, officer Chris Wilburn said, but it appears Foster's injury was self-inflicted.

The man is in "very critical" condition, police said.

Luckily, no students were in the vicinity, and the schools were placed on lockdown, Wilburn said.

Anxious parents, though, stood just outside the police blockade on West Meridian School Road Monday morning, beset with chilling thoughts that they had dropped their children off at the school shortly before the shooting unfolded.

"I want to go get my son right now," Donna Reintjes said.

She received a text alert from the school right when she arrived home after dropping her son off at the middle school.

"Thank goodness the kids weren't here at the time," she said.

Foster was a Kentucky state inmate booked in the Oldham County Jail in a work detail program, which allows some approved inmates to leave the jail during the day to work for county agencies, officials said.

Foster walked away from his work site at the Oldham County Recycling Department on Sept. 2, and stole a car from the department, said Mike Simpson, the jailer for Oldham County.

A U.S. Marshals Task Force pursued him to the area, as the man has connections in Indianapolis, said John Beeman, a task force supervisor.

Authorities began tailing Foster when someone spotted the stolen car, Beeman said.

Foster was serving a five-year sentence for being a felon in possession with a firearm, officials said.

"This is too close to home," Reintjes said.