IU experts available to comment on shooting at FedEx facility in Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS and BLOOMINGTON, Ind.  — A gunman opened fire at the FedEx Ground Plainfield Operations Center on Thursday, April 15, killing eight people and injuring at least seven others. The suspected gunman is believed to have committed suicide. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is continuing to investigate the incident and is working to identify the gunman. Experts in criminal justice, criminal law, and law enforcement from Indiana University Bloomington and IUPUI are available to comment. Contact Mary Keck at [email protected] or Marah Yankey at [email protected] or 812-856-1442.

Paul Helmke

Mayoral leadership, gun control, urban issues, law and public policy, civic education and participation, nonprofit leadership.

IU Bloomington

Email: [email protected]

Expert Bio

Paul Helmke, former president and CEO of the Brady Center/Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and three-term mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a professor of practice at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the founding director of the Civic Leaders Living-Learning Center. (more)

Jill Lees

Law enforcement, public and media relations, police chaplain, hostage negotiation, policy, community policing.

IU Bloomington

Phone: 812-855-7621

Email: 

Expert Bio

Jill Lees is the chief of IU Police Department Bloomington on March 4, 2019. She was sworn in as a Plainfield police officer on May 15, 1995. During her 23 year career at the Plainfield Police Department, she served as a DARE officer, department instructor/field training officer, bicycle patrol officer, school resource officer, Explorer Post leader, and hostage negotiator. (More

Jody L. Madeira

Tort law, criminal law, children and the law, assisted reproductive technology, interdisciplinary perspectives.

IU Bloomington

Email: [email protected]

Expert Bio

Professor Jody Madeira joined the IU Maurer School of Law faculty in 2007. Her scholarly interests involve empirical research; the role of emotion in law; the sociology of law; law, medicine and bioethics; and the Second Amendment. She is principal investigator on a grant to design and implement S.U.N., a multimedia web portal integrating educational videos and a mobile health tracking application for college students that addresses alcohol, marijuana, opioid and stimulant use disorders. (more)

Thomas Stucky

Criminal justice, violent crime

IUPUI

Phone: 317-274-3462

Email: 

Expert Bio

Tom Stucky is the Executive Associate Dean of Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at the IUPUI. He joined the criminal justice faculty in 2004 after spending three years on the criminal justice faculty at IPFW. He recently completed research examining factors associated with incarceration for a cohort of low-level offenders entering the Indiana Department of Correction and was the principal investigator for the Indianapolis Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative research partnership. He also provided research consultation to the Indianapolis Mayor’s Task Force on Violent Crime. (More

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