ALEXANDRIA, Ind. – Authorities in Madison County located a shooting suspect after a large search effort Wednesday morning.
They were looking for a 19-year-old woman from Muncie after an early morning shooting left a man in serious condition. According to Sheriff Scott Mellinger with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, the shooting happened around 3:30 a.m. in the area of County Road 1400 North and State Road 9. Dispatchers received a 911 call around 3:45 a.m. from the shooting victim, who was in a car.
Mellinger said the shooting victim was transported to an Anderson hospital before being airlifted to IU Health Methodist Hospital. The victim was only able to provide investigators with “bits and pieces” of information about what happened.
Authorities say the victim is Timothy Lampkins, 29, of Marion.
The search for the suspect was concentrated on an area north of Alexandria. Mellinger previously said authorities were looking for a white woman wearing a black-and-white “jumper-type” outfit. Her first name was possibly Brittany, Mellinger said. Authorities got the woman’s description from local residents, who said she’d knocked on doors asking for help.
Around 7:30 a.m., Mellinger said the woman had been located. She was found walking along State Road 9 about a mile away from the shooting scene. She was identified as Sierra Swoveland, 19, of Muncie.
TJ Morrow and his son Brandt were on their way back from breakfast in Alexandria and were driving along S.R. 9 when they noticed a woman in a dress, calmly walking from under the bridge.
Knowing that police in the area were searching for a female suspect in a shooting, Morrow said he and his son turned around and located a large gathering of police at S.R. 9 and County Road 1400 North.
“I rolled down the window and was like ‘no, there’s a lady right here,’ and he was like ‘where?’ and I’m like ‘right here!'” said Morrow in an interview with FOX59 Wednesday morning.
Morrow said the officer walked closer to the road, saw the woman and quickly took off; the other officers followed closely behind.
“She was just walking down the street, she didn’t really care that people were seeing her. A couple of people drove past her before we got to her,” Morrow added, “she seemed fine.”
Morrow and his son pulled to the side of the road and watched as the large group of officers in squad cars drive down and apprehended Swoveland. As they talked to another sheriff’s deputy about what happened, Morrow says he could hear over the officer’s radio that it was the suspect they were searching for.
“I was just a little bit shaky, I was confused about what was going on,” said Morrow’s son, Brandt, “I was a little scared…just a little.”
The search prompted police to set up a two-mile perimeter from 1400 North to State Road 9. As a result of the search, State Road 9 was closed between 1300 North and 1550 North, according to Madison County EMA.
In addition, Alexandria Community Schools and Madison-Grant Community Schools were on a two-hour delay.