INDIANAPOLIS (Indiana, US): Police faced protests on Thursday after officers fatally shot two men and killed a pregnant pedestrian in three separate incidents just hours apart.

Police did not have body camera or dash camera footage of either shooting, but they said both men exchanged gunfire with officers. Events surrounding the first shooting were livestreamed on Facebook, including comments by a responding detective that the police chief called unacceptable.

Protesters converged on the first shooting scene on Wednesday night, and more gathered on Thursday at the City County Building in downtown Indianapolis.

Police acknowledged that the tragic incidents had shaken the public’s trust, but promised that the department would conduct thorough, transparent investigations into all three deaths.

The coroner’s office identified the man killed in the first shooting as Dreasjon Reed, 21, and the man killed later as McHale Rose, 19. Both were black.

The pregnant woman was identified as Ashlynn Lisby, 23. Lisby, who was white, was walking along an expressway ramp when an officer driving to work struck her. Neither she nor her fetus survived.

Protests began after video of the events leading up to Reed’s shooting appeared on Facebook.

The video shows him being pursued by police before incoherent shouting and popping sounds are heard during a later foot chase. Later, a voice says “I think it’s going to be a closed casket, homie”, an apparent reference to a closed-casket funeral.

A police official said he was aware of inappropriate comments made by a detective that was broadcast live on social media during the incident.

He said immediate disciplinary action would be pursued against the detective, who was responding to the shooting and was not present when it happened.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2020