INDIANAPOLIS — New details obtained by Call 6 Investigates in the shooting death of Dreasjon Reed by an IMPD officer last month show that the officer-involved fired his gun more than 10 times and the gun found next to Reed’s body was also fired twice.
Reed was live streaming on Facebook as he led police on a vehicle pursuit, parked the car and then jumped out and ran on May 6.
The action was viewed by thousands of people while it was happening, and yet so many of the details about exactly what happened that day remain unknown over a month later.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department says Officer DeJoure Mercer briefly chased Reed on foot before attempting to stop the 21-year-old with a taser. What happened next is where IMPD and Reed’s family have differing accounts.
IMPD claims that Reed fired a weapon at Officer Mercer, who then exchanged gunfire, fatally wounding Reed. A weapon was found lying next to Reed’s body after the shooting.
The Reed family legal team claims the surveillance video Call 6 Investigates shared last week — that shows Reed running from a car with what appears to be a white T-shirt in one hand and two cell phones in his other hand — is evidence that he was not holding a gun at the time.
Based on that information, the Reed family attorneys contend that Dreasjon Reed did not fire at Officer Mercer.
Call 6 Investigates has learned that the weapon found lying next to Reed had been fired twice and two casings were found at the scene. The investigation also showed that Officer Mercer fired his gun more than 10 times during the exchange.
The investigation will determine whether the amount of gunfire used by Officer Mercer was justified or excessive.
Ballistics from the investigation has also not been completed, so more precise details have not been released at this time.
Call 6 Investigates has also learned that the gun in question matches the description of the weapon seen in Dreasjon’s front waistband during the Facebook Live stream and two casings from that gun were found near Reed’s body.
Read more from RTV6 here
