The suspect who ran from police, crashed into bystanders’ vehicles and pointed a gun at an officer had been released from prison after serving less than four years of a 42-year sentence for dealing drugs.
Police identified the man shot by police during the Monday evening incident as Paul James Kinnaman, 36, of Metamora. He underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the abdomen Monday night at Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis and was in stable condition on Tuesday.
Kinnaman has a lengthy criminal record dating back to 2004 with convictions in Marion County for robbery, resisting police, auto theft and possession of a firearm without a license near a school, according to Indiana Department of Correction records.
But most recently, he was sentenced in 2011 to 42 years in prison for dealing methamphetamine in Franklin County. After serving three-and-a-half years, he appealed to the judge to have his sentenced modified so he could work, and the judge agreed to let him serve the remainder of his sentence on county-supervised probation, said Doug Garrison, spokesman for the department of correction.
In addition to any charges filed from the incident this week, Kinnaman could be found in violation of his probation and sent back to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence for dealing drugs.
His encounter with police started just after 6 p.m. Monday at Fry Road and State Road 135 when a Greenwood police officer tried to stop a black BMW that Kinnaman was driving. The vehicle didn’t stop and sped northbound on State Road 135, then on County Line Road, and eventually crashed into four cars waiting in traffic at Stop 11 Road and Shelby Street on the south side of Indianapolis, according to Greenwood police.
The officer in pursuit was about one-quarter of a mile behind the BMW after using caution at the busy Greenwood and southside intersections. When the officer came upon the crash, he pulled his squad car next to the driver’s door to try to block the driver in the car, Greenwood police assistant chief Matt Fillenwarth said.
Kinnaman crawled out of the passenger side door and pointed a gun at the officer, Fillenwarth said.
The officer pulled out his gun and fired multiple times. Kinnaman was struck once. The officer stopped firing once Kinnaman dropped to the ground, threw his weapon to the side and put his arms in the air, Fillenwarth said.
The incident was captured on the officer’s body camera and the footage has been secured, Fillenwarth said. He has reviewed the footage and said the officer had no other choice than to fire.
“We’re lucky we didn’t get our officer shot,” Fillenwarth said.
Greenwood police have not identified the officer involved in the shooting, who is on paid leave as is standard practice after a police-action shooting. The Marion County prosecutor will review the case, which also is typical in a police shooting. The officer has been with the department for two years and has an exemplary record, Fillenwarth said.
Four other people were injured in the accident Monday, but all of them had been released from area hospitals by Tuesday afternoon, Fillenwarth said. Two people were in the vehicles struck by the BMW in the crash; two were passengers in the BMW. The car had been reported stolen in Indianapolis.
Greenwood police continue to investigate the incident and will present potential charges against Kinnaman to the Johnson County prosecutor, who will decide what, if any, criminal charges to file.
Police were continuing to interview witnesses, hoped to search the BMW and would be interviewing the officer, Fillenwarth said.
Greenwood police will also conduct an internal review of the shooting, he said.
