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Indianapolis mass shooting suspect legally bought 2 guns, police say

18 April 2021
Dan Ackermann

The suspected gunman in this week's mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis legally purchased two assault rifles believed to have been used in the attack, police said late Saturday.

Of note: The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's statement that Brandon Scott Hole, 19, bought the rifles last July and September comes a day after the FBI said in a statement to news outlets that a "shotgun was seized" from the suspect in March 2020 after his mother raised concerns about his mental health.

The big picture: Eight people died in Thursday night's shooting, including four members of the Indianapolis Sikh community, before the shooter killed himself.

What they're saying: Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Randal Taylor said the later purchases indicated authorities hadn't deemed Hole subject to Indiana's "red flag" legislation, which prevents people from possessing a firearm if a judge finds them to be a "dangerous risk from," per the New York Times.

  • Taylor told the Times he wasn't sure if there was a hearing over March's incident despite police not returning the seized gun.
  • "I don’t know how we held onto it, but it's good that we did," Taylor added, noting Hole then legally purchased "a much more powerful weapon than a shotgun."

For the record: Indiana is one of several states to have adopted "red flag" gun laws since a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.