On the evening of February 15, 2015, law enforcement in Walkerton, Indiana, responded to a distress call from a residence located on Woodcreek Drive. The emergency dispatch was initiated after a woman at the home reported a chaotic scene, screaming for a man to lower a weapon. When officers from the Walkerton Police Department arrived at the property, they encountered a 67-year-old White male named Kerry Lee Reed, who had barricaded himself inside the house.
The situation quickly intensified as Reed appeared at the doorway of the home multiple times brandishing a firearm. Witnesses and officers reported that he shouted at law enforcement personnel before retreating back into the residence and locking the doors. Due to the high-risk nature of the standoff, the St. Joseph County SWAT team was deployed to the scene to assist local police in securing the area and attempting to negotiate a peaceful resolution.
After several hours of the standoff, the SWAT team made a tactical entry into the home. Inside, they discovered Reed deceased. An investigation by the St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit and a subsequent autopsy determined that the cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the chest. The coroner definitively ruled the manner of death as a suicide. Because the investigation concluded that the fatal wound was self-inflicted, there were no arrests made, and no suspects were sought in connection with the incident.
