08/18/2026
In memory of Officer Timothy J. Laird
Patrol Officer Timothy J. Laird, badge number 2479, was killed on August 18, 2004, when officers responded to numerous 911 calls from neighbors reporting gunfire in the 2700 block of South Dietz Street on the near south side of Indianapolis.
The first officer responding to the scene, Patrol Officer Tim Conley, radioed to dispatch that he was under fire. Having been struck in the abdomen and leg while still in his car, Patrol Officer Conley put the car in reverse and backed up until he hit a fence post where he was rescued by Patrol Officer Mark Fagan and Ty Van Wagner and Lieutenant Richard Proffitt.
Amid the gunfire, and uncertain an ambulance could safely enter the area, IFD Lieutenant Robert Moore, Engineer Kenneth Calvin, and Firefighters Kevin Jones and John Vaughns, of Engine Company 15, Station 15, stepped into the dangerous scene so they could transport Patrol Officer Conley to the hospital on board their fire engine.
Driving into the 2800 block of Dietz Street at 2:01 A.M., Patrolmen Laird and Kim Cissell also came under fire. As Patrol Officer Laird exited his police car, he was fatally wounded when a round hit him high in the chest, above his protective vest.
Patrol Officer Cissell drove Laird to Troy Avenue. From there, Patrol Officer Laird was transported to Wishard Hospital where he was pronounced dead moments after arriving.
The shooter, Kenneth C. Anderson, 33, continued to walk down an alley and through the parking lot of a local church onto South Tindall Street, brandishing a rifle with a large ammunition clip. Near the corner of South Tindall and East Gimber Streets, he came upon Patrolmen Leon Essig, Andrew Troxell, and Peter Koe.
Anderson took cover behind a Jeep Cherokee and fired several rounds at the three officers. Essig was hit in the arm; Troxell in the hand; and Koe in the knee. The wounded Patrol Officer Koe, a SWAT Team member, returned fire, striking Anderson with fatal shots to the head and chest.
Homes and vehicles in the neighborhood were peppered with bullets fired by Anderson who was armed with an SKS rifle, similar to a military AK-47, a .357 caliber revolver, and a .22 caliber derringer. Patrolman Koe was the only officer known to have fired his weapon. Chief of Police Jerry Barker said:
"It wasn't until that final confrontation, basically face to face with the perpetrator, that fi****ms were fired by police."
When officers entered the home of Anderson's sixty-six-year-old mother, Alice Marie Anderson, they found that she had also been fatally shot by Anderson.
Earlier in the year, on January 20, 2004, police had been sent to 2704 South Dietz Street to help paramedics with a combative patient. During that incident, police placed Anderson under immediate detention and confiscated a large quantity of weapons and ammunition.
Upon release from his detention, Anderson sought return of the confiscated weapons. In the absence of legal authority to prevent the return of the weapons, the Indianapolis Police Department released them to Anderson in early March 2004. Following the August shooting, family and friends reported Anderson was a troubled man who suffered from schizophrenia, and who had not been taking his prescribed medication. Patrol Officer Conley, Essig, Troxell, and Koe, all of whom wore body armor, survived their injuries.
Officer Laird was laid to rest at Crown Hill Cemetery following an emotional funeral service at St. Luke's United Methodist Church that was attended by two thousand two hundred mourners. During the service, Chief of Police Jerry Barker retired Patrol Officer Laird's badge (2479) and his car number (C-421). He also posthumously awarded Patrol Officer Laird the Indianapolis Police Department’s Medal of Honor and Purple Heart.
The funeral was followed by a procession of more than five hundred squad cars that extended more than seven miles. Hundreds of well-wishers gathered along the route and at Indianapolis Police Headquarters and South District. Seven hundred uniformed law enforcement officers and one hundred-fifty family members gathered at the grave site to pay their final respects. Shifts of mourning Indianapolis Police Department officers attending the funeral and burial were covered by officers from the Marion County Sheriff's Department and the Speedway, Lawrence, and Beech Grove Police Departments.
