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Killer of Howard County officer has Putnam background
The 25-year-old man reportedly responsible for fatally shooting a Howard County deputy and then killing himself Sunday, has an extensive Putnam County background.
Evan Thomas Dorsey -- who reportedly turned a gun on two officers trying to serve a warrant for his arrest Sunday morning southwest of Kokomo at Russiaville -- grew up in the Heritage Lake area (the Patriots Landing section to be specific) and attended North Putnam Schools at one time, local officials confirmed.
Dorsey also has a Putnam County court record dating back to juvenile proceedings that began with a 2006 burglary case and escalated into a protective order against him by other Heritage Lake residents.
After that it was a parade of charges over several counties -- none necessarily of a violent or extremely dangerous nature that would have suggested he might turn a simple warrant service into a shootout with police as he did Sunday.
For example, in August of 2008, Dorsey had his driving privileges suspended as a result of exceeding maximum speed limits in a case that went before Judge Denny Bridges in Putnam Superior Court.
In a September 2009 case, he was charged with illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor along with three others.
That stemmed from an incident at Roachdale while he was 19. Police were called to a fight in the street that adjourned to a nearby garage and was believed to have involved marijuana and
paraphernalia.
However, only the alcohol charge was ever filed against Dorsey, whose addresses in the two Putnam County court proceedings were listed as Ladoga and Monrovia,
respectively.
By the time he went to court in the latter case, again before Judge Bridges in Superior Court, Dorsey showed an address of Kokomo, while a later court appearance pegged his hometown as Oroville, Calif., indicating he moved often in his teenage years.
Appearing before Judge Matt Headley in a protective order proceeding in Putnam Circuit Court, records show Dorsey as residing with his mother, Jackie Pollock, at Heritage Lake, while his father, Bruce Dorsey, was listed as living in Ladoga.
But according to Doxpop, the public records website, Dorsey has seen the inside of courtrooms in at least five other counties -- Montgomery, Morgan, Marion, Clinton and Howard.
His Montgomery County cases have included battery resulting in bodily injury, being a minor in possession of alcohol, possession of paraphernalia and violation of probation. Dorsey got 60 days in jail on the battery charge and 360 days in jail on the violation of probation.
Dorsey was sentenced to 100 days in the Morgan County Jail in 2009, Doxpop notes, for possession of marijuana, while his 2011 Marion County case earned him 60 days in jail at Indianapolis for possession of hash.
In Howard County, Dorsey went to court for resisting law enforcement and false informing. When Sunday's horrific events went down, Dorsey was facing an April trial in that case after pleading not guilty.
Clinton County cases in 2014 and 2015 paved the way for what transpired early Sunday. It was a warrant for failure to appear in Clinton County Court -- on a syringe possession charge -- that led to deputies arriving at his mobile home in Russiaville where 27-year-old Deputy Carl Koontz was fatally wounded and Sgt. Jordan Buckley, 35, sustained a gunshot wound that put him in an Indianapolis hospital overnight.
The deputies were there to arrest Dorsey and take him to the Clinton County Jail since he failed to appear in court as scheduled. Authorities remain uncertain why Dorsey reacted so violently to that circumstance when the officers showed up at his 380 Chandler St., Russiaville, residence about
12:30 a.m.
About two hours after the gunfight ended, Dorsey was found dead inside the mobile home, Howard County Sheriff Steve Rogers confirmed.
Preliminary autopsy reports determined Koontz, a three-year veteran of the Howard County department, died of a single gunshot wound to his pelvis. Dorsey, meanwhile, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.
Chief Rogers said when officers knocked on the door of the Dorsey residence and announced their presence, there was no answer. Upon entering the home, officers were confronted by gunfire and they, in turn, returned fire.
After Koontz and Buckley were wounded during the exchange, a Russiaville officer and other deputies were able to extract the wounded officers from the residence and provide first aid. Both Koontz and Buckley were transported initially to Howard Regional Hospital, stabilized and then airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where Koontz succumbed to his injuries later Sunday morning.
Deputies had secured the area around the residence, removing residents adjacent to the scene for their safety.
Howard County SWAT, Kokomo Police SWAT and Indiana State Police SWAT responded and attempts to contact the occupant of the residence began about 2:30 a.m. with no response. Those attempts continued for about two hours. SWAT personnel were able to confirm that Dorsey was dead inside of the residence.