1 killed, officer injured in Chesterton, Indiana police shooting near Hilton Garden Inn
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A man was killed and an officer was injured in a shootout on Wednesday morning outside a hotel in Chesterton, Indiana.
Indiana State Police said officers from the Chesterton Police Department were called to Gateway Boulevard and Maison Drive across from the Hilton Garden Inn just after 8 a.m. for a suspicious man.
Chesterton Police Chief Tim Richardson said, when two officers arrived at the scene, they had an interaction with that man and then there was an exchange of gunfire between the man and officers.
Police said that man was killed in the exchange of gunfire. His name has not been released.
Richardson said a 33-year-old officer also was shot, and was being treated at an Illinois hospital. Police did not provide any other details on where he was shot, but Richardson said his prognosis is good.
"Our thoughts are with the officer and his family. They are most important to us right now," he said.
Guests at the Hilton Garden Inn were in the middle of breakfast when police showed up.
"It seemed like it was a normal morning, and things got crazy quick," said Seth Rich "A couple police officers came in. The gentleman was on the other side of the room."
Rich was in the lobby with his family as officers arrived inside the hotel in response to a 911 call about a suspicious man, and questioned the man who was later shot outside.
"They just talked to him, you know, about going outside; and, thankfully, he went out with them," Rich said.
Rich watched two officers follow the man out to the parking lot.
"The officers and the gentleman had gone down where we couldn't see, and that's when we heard the first shots," he said. "Another guy and I kind of looked out. We saw that that guy was down, and then we saw that the police officer was down in the road."
Rich said his family rushed to their hotel room as he checked on the injured officer outside after the shooting.
"Tried to help get traffic away from the area," he said. "My wife and I will be praying for both officers. You know, they went through a rough day."
An investigation by Indiana State Police into the shooting is active and ongoing. They said a weapon was recovered from the scene.
The two officers involved in the incident are being placed on administrative leave per department protocol, police said.
Police are asking the public to avoid the area of the incident for the next several hours as they continue their investigation.
