Attempted murder charges filed against man accused of shooting officer in Fountain Square

A man who allegedly shot and seriously injured an Indianapolis police officer in training has been charged with attempted murder and other crimes, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office has announced.

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears was joined by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department during a press conference at the prosecutor’s office Tuesday to announce that criminal charges have been filed against Mylik Jawann Hill, 31, of Indianapolis.

The charges stem from a Feb. 27 incident in Fountain Square that resulted in patrol officer Thomas “Tommy” Mangan being shot. Mangan suffered significant injuries to his Adam’s apple and voice box.

Hill is charged with two counts of Level 1 felony attempted murder, six counts of Level 6 felony resisting law enforcement, Level 4 felony unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and Class B misdemeanor criminal mischief.

The potential penalty for attempted murder ranges from 20 to 40 years in prison, Mears said.

According to a probable cause affidavit, a local resident on Feb. 27 called the non-emergency dispatch line around 10 p.m. to report that a male driving a red vehicle had hit the fence in her yard and her neighbor’s vehicle across the street. The individual then got out of the red car and began peeing in the street.

Officers were directed to the red Buick before the caller lost visual of the car when it turned onto another street, court documents say. Mangan, IMPD Officer Daniel Majors — a seven-year veteran training Mangan — and four other officers found the vehicle and the male that had been described by the caller.

Body cameras and statements taken from the involved officers provided the account taken on what happened next, the affidavit says.

As the six officers pulled up behind the Buick and parked their three marked police vehicles around it with lights flashing, Hill stepped out of his vehicle “keeping his back to the officers with his hands in front of him.”

The affidavit says that Majors loudly and verbally said, “Stop, police, show me your hands” and Hill then pulled up his pants with one hand, looked over his shoulder and began to run. All six officers gave chase on foot.

Majors was the closest to Hill in the chase, according to the affidavit. But as Mangan pulled in front of Majors and reached out towards Hill’s back “in what appeared to be a takedown,” Hill produced a pistol and fired two shots.

Mangan was struck in the in the center of his throat and the base of his neck. An exchange of gunfire then occurred between at Majors and Hill, with Hill continuing to shoot at officers from 10 to 35 feet.

Hill ran off and was later found to have been twice shot in the chest and the leg, IMPD said.

One of Hill’s shots hit Mangan’s police radio on the left side of his gun belt. While awaiting medical treatment, Mangan’s police radio caught fire and exploded. Police said Mangan used his bare hand to remove the burning police radio from his gun belt, according to court documents.

Mangan was taken to Eskenazi Hospital where he remains hospitalized in serious, but stable, condition with severe damage to his throat, IMPD confirmed Tuesday.

Hill was later apprehended and taken to Methodist Hospital in stable condition. IMPD confirmed Tuesday that Hill remains in police custody at a local hospital.

IMPD Chief Randal Taylor thanked Mears for the “quick work that he’s done” in the case. Rather than talking about Hill, however, Taylor said he wanted to give recognition to the other officers present at the time of the incident.

He likened the incident as being “eerily familiar” to that of Southport Lt. Aaron Allan, who was shot and killed while responding to a single-car crash. The defendant, Jason Brown, was convicted of murder earlier this year.

“No one goes into this job thinking that they’re going to be immune from danger,” Taylor said. “…You’re called on what you’re thinking is just going to be an accident, a disturbance of some sort. And then next thing you know, we have an officer fighting for his life in the hospital.”

Mangan was three weeks into his first rotation with his field-training officer when the shooting occurred.

When asked why the prosecutor’s office only now motioned for revocation of Hill’s bond for his parole violation, Mears said that it was an issue of timing and that “the bond was posted before we had an opportunity to make a decision or weigh in on a charging decision.”

According to court records, Hill was charged with theft and resisting law enforcement on Jan. 31, 2022, but released on a $500 cash bond on Feb. 1, 2022. Hill was out on bond at the time he shot Mangan.

Mears’ office filed a petition to revoke bond on Tuesday.

As Mears and law enforcement officers left the room at the close of the meeting, Rick Snyder of the Fraternal Order of Police loudly asked Mears, “Do you feel like you could have done more?”

“When they got this and saw that the suspect was already released on a $500 bond with a parole violation, and as a serious, violent felon, they should have immediately moved to have a hearing to revoke that bond and put him back in jail,” Snyder told reporters following the press conference.

The case has been assigned to Criminal Court 27 in Marion County.