INDIANAPOLIS — For the first time, an Indianapolis woman is speaking about a terrifying ordeal she experienced last month. She was carjacked at gunpoint, and that carjacking ended when an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer shot her attacker on North Kealing Avenue.
This week, the Marion County Coroner’s Office confirmed the suspect, 25-year-old Julius Hill, died from the injuries he sustained in the shooting.
Court documents indicate Hill’s father called 911 on Oct. 27 — the day of the shooting — to tell police Hill wasn’t taking his schizophrenia medication, and that he had a gun. His father also said he saw Hill get in a car with a woman who was visibly scared.
“I slammed on my brakes and told him to get out of my car,” the victim, who asked to remain anonymous, said. “He was like, ‘I said drive.’ I said, ‘get out of my car.’ Then he just put a gun to my head.”
The woman said she was taking her dog to the park before a man, later identified as Hill, pulled on her car’s door handle and forced his way into the vehicle through a window.
“I was scared,” the woman said. “He was telling me I wasn’t allowed to stop at no stop lights, wasn’t allowed to hit my brake at all, so it was a crazy full-force drive trying not to hit anybody else in the process. I was just hoping that me and my dog didn’t get shot.”
The woman remembered seeing a couple IMPD squad cars parked a block or so away before the carjacking. So, when the carjacking happened, she did the only thing she could — drive right to the police.
“I slammed on my brakes, and they just looked at me crazy, like they didn’t know what I was doing,” the victim said. “They were walking up to the car, and I was trying to tell them that he had a gun. When they finally realized what I said, two officers took off running it seemed like, and the other one stayed behind and ducked behind my car.”
The woman said Hill tried to grab her to keep her from getting out of the car, but she managed to escape. Police said Hill pointed his gun in the direction of officers and ignored law enforcement’s commands to drop his weapon after the woman got out of the car.
“The officer told him to drop his weapon and to put his hands up a couple times,” the woman said. “I’m not sure what happened, but I heard two shots fired.”
An officer shot Hill twice, who was still inside the car with the victim’s dog when the shooting happened. Court documents indicate Hill didn’t let go of the gun until an officer tased him. After the shooting, IMPD reported that Hill was in “critical but stable” condition.
“No cop leaves their house ever wanting to use deadly force against another human being,” IMPD Chief Chris Bailey said during a media briefing on Oct. 27. “They live with that. They’re human beings just like us. They live and breathe and put their pants on one leg at a time. They have to deal with that the rest of their lives too — they don’t want to do it. We’d rather you just comply or not be violent against one of our community members, and we could avoid these things altogether.”
The victim said she’s still processing everything that happened that day, and told FOX59 and CBS4 she’s sad to hear about Hill’s death. Once she learned he was struggling with his mental health, she hoped he’d get the help he needed rather than a long list of charges.
Now, though, she says she always drives with her windows up, and advises anyone who ends up in a similar situation to remain calm, and trust their instincts.
“Just don’t freak out,” the woman said. “Just try to use your head at some point, try to figure out where people are at.”
Comments are closed.