Louisville Metro Police reported its first homicide of the year on Saturday. By Monday, two more people had been killed and four others — including a police officer — were injured following a string of shootings and a stabbing death in Louisville and Southern Indiana.
The first shooting happened on Friday morning.
Southern Indiana police shooting
In Orange County, Indiana, Deputy Sheriff Zac Andry approached a car partially sitting in an intersection Friday, according to Indiana State Police. They said Andry was speaking to the driver, 33-year-old Austin Schepers, when Schepers shot Andry multiple times, including in the head. Police said Schepers and a female passenger fled the scene in their car.
Andry was taken to University of Louisville Hospital, and Orange County Sheriff Davey Henderson said he was in stable condition as of Sunday.
LMPD and U.S. Marshals found Schepers in Louisville at a home in the Jacobs neighborhood Sunday. Police said Schepers fired at officers. They returned fire, hitting Schepers multiple times. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said LMPD’s Public Integrity Unit is investigating the incident, as is standard protocol when officers shoot someone.
Incidents in Louisville
On Saturday at 11 a.m., LMPD spokespeople said officers responded to a shooting in the Wendy’s parking lot at 3422 Taylor Blvd., where they found a man in his 20s with wounds in his arm and rear. The man was taken to UofL Hospital, and he’s expected to survive.
Police said the shooting followed a verbal altercation the man had with someone else in the parking lot. LMPD’s nonfatal shooting squad is investigating the incident. As of now, police said they have not arrested anyone.
Shortly after the first Saturday shooting, LMPD officers responded to another shooting in the 100 block of East Southland Blvd. in Park Hill. Police said officers found a 45-year-old man sitting in his car in a parking lot. He had multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to UofL Hospital, where he was in critical condition as of the last update on Saturday afternoon.
The nonfatal shooting squad is also investigating this incident.
Around 2:30 p.m., LMPD reported its first homicide of the year. Police said officers found a woman who was stabbed several times in the stomach in the 8000 block of Red Cedar Way in Okolona. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
LMPD arrested the alleged suspect, 50-year-old Jamie Belton, later that night. Police said Kentucky State Police found Belton traveling on Interstate 64 in Midway, more than an hour away from Louisville.
Belton is charged with one felony count of murder and domestic violence.
The victim was later identified as Evelyn Belton, Jamie’s wife, according to arrest records, which also alleged the two were arguing before the situation escalated.
On Sunday at 1 p.m., officers found a woman who had been shot multiple times in the 1300 block of Cypress Street in Park Hill. She was taken to UofL Hospital, and later pronounced dead.
Two hours later, LMPD said officers found the suspect in the area. Police said the man shot at officers when they approached him. Officers returned fired and shot the man “at least once,” according to Louisville Police Chief Paul Humphrey. Humphrey said the man was taken to UofL Hospital, and is expected to survive.
LMPD’s Public Integrity Unit is investigating the incident.
