1 person arrested after shooting that leads to SWAT standoff in northeast Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS – A man was arrested Saturday after a shooting incident reportedly involving children led to a SWAT team standoff in northeast Indianapolis.

According to a social media post from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, 37-year-old Jeffery Ware was arrested and faces preliminary charges of criminal recklessness, dangerous handling of a firearm, endangering a child, possession of marijuana and possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.

At around 7 a.m. Saturday, officers from IMPD’s North District responded to the 2300 block of Hillside Avenue after several 911 callers reported shots fired inside an apartment complex. When officers arrived, witnesses told them that an adult male, later identified as Ware, and three younger individuals fired a gun in the parking lot before running back into an apartment in the complex.

According to the post, officers obtained video footage of the incident that allegedly shows the man firing the gun into the air. The man then allegedly passed it to three other people, described by IMPD as “very young looking,” who also fired the gun into the air.

IMPD then surrounded the apartment where the group allegedly ran. The post said officers made “loud announcements” for everyone present to evacuate. Two adults and four children reportedly left the apartment and were taken into custody. One man remained in the apartment and “refused to exit.”

After the man, later identified as Ware, refused to leave the apartment, the department’s Special Weapons and Tactics Team arrived at the scene. Ware was later taken into custody, where police said it was “immediately apparent that Ware was the adult in the video footage firing the weapon into the air.”

After searching Ware’s home and vehicle, IMPD officers reportedly found two handguns, several fired cartridge cases, and approximately 80 grams of marijuana.

Three of the children arrested matched the clothing and physical description of the people seen in the video firing the gun into the air. The post states that the children, aged between 10 and 14, were allegedly encouraged by Ware to shoot his gun.

“The alleged conduct is very disturbing and disappointing,” IMPD Commander Matthew Thomas said in the post. “It is completely unacceptable that an adult would think it appropriate to not only recklessly fire a gun himself in a busy apartment complex, but to encourage children to do the same. We as a department are outraged by this, and the community should be outraged as well. We must do better. Our children deserve better.”