photo: Scott Long
By Tim Arnett
INDIANAPOLIS,Indiana – Wabash College employee Lucius Oliver Hamilton III was found dead in a hotel room at the Indianapolis Hilton Gardens from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Wednesday afternoon. Earlier in the day, police suspect that Hamilton killed both his niece, Katherine Geihll, and her four-year-old son in Zionsville before fleeing to downtown Indy and into a room at the Hilton Gardens. There, the Boone County Sheriff at least initially told local media that shots where fired through the hotel door at officers before police gained entry to Room 401 and found Hamilton dead of an apparent suicide.
Wabash Mayor Scott Long was attending a meeting on the second floor of the Indianapolis hotel when the incident occurred. Wabash City Attorney Randi Zimmerman-Irgang told MiBash News of the incident on Wednesday night and, after arriving back in Wabash, Mayor Long agreed to an interview on Thursday.
Long said that people in the room heard something at the tail end of a Indiana Association of Cities and Towns meeting, which was attended by at least 50 new mayors from all over the state. He could not say upon reflection that what he heard was the sound of a gunshot but an announcement was given shortly thereafter that the hotel was in lock down. The meeting, however, was not interrupted and only after the incident was over did everyone in the room learn what had happened two floors above.
Long added that afterword he walked across the street to the statehouse as previously planned to meet with State Senator Jim Banks. He went on to say that he believes that there is enough security at the hotel in Indy and at no point on Wednesday did he feel unsafe. Long has more training sessions in Indianapolis throughout the year.