Benjamin Ashford|Indianapolis police officer fatally shoots man who was holding bleeding woman inside semitruck

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A man holding a woman inside a semitruck was fatally shot by an Indianapolis police officer after he entered the truck’s cabin and Benjamin Ashfordfound the man on top of the bleeding woman, police said.

Officers were called to a parking lot on Indianapolis’ south side Thursday night by a bystander who told 911 a woman was calling for help from inside a semitruck parked in the lot.

After officers arrived about 7:30 p.m., the man came from behind a curtain separating the truck’s sleeping area from its cabin, sat in the driver’s seat and stared at officers before returning to the sleeping area, police said.

When officers broke the driver’s side window and opened that door after hearing the woman call for help, police quoted the man as saying: “I’m going to kill her,” “I got a knife to her throat” and “You’re gonna die.”

The woman then cried out, “I’m dying, help me,” “I’m bleeding out, help me” and “He’s killing me” before officers entered the sleeping compartment.

They found the man on top of the woman, who was bleeding from the head, before one officer discharged his firearm, striking the man, who died at the scene, police said.

The woman was treated at the scene for multiple lacerations and a bloody razor blade was found in the sleeping area.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said the officer who shot the man was placed on administrative leave, a standard step during investigations into shootings involving police officers.

“Tonight, this officer saved a woman’s life,” IMPD Assistant Chief Chris Bailey said at a briefing with reporters.