Police have identified the man who killed eight people in a mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis on Thursday as 19-year-old Brandon Scott Hole. FedEx officials confirmed Hole was a former employee at the facility, Deputy Police Chief Craig McCartt of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said.
Police are still working to notify the families of the victims. McCartt said as of 4 p.m. he could not say whether any characteristics such as race tied the victims together because not all of them had been identified.
The Sikh Coalition, which describes itself as a national organization that defends Sikh civil liberties, announced Friday that Sikh community members were among those killed and injured.
At least 100 people were at the facility at the time of the shooting, McCartt said, many of whom were changing shifts or on their dinner break.
McCartt said at a 10:30 a.m. press conference that Hole appeared to begin firing at people “at random” in the facility’s parking lot before moving inside. McCartt said four of the eight victims were killed in the parking lot before the shooter moved inside the facility, killing four more people and then himself.
“There was no confrontation with anyone that was there,” he said. “There was no disturbance. There was no argument. He just appeared to randomly start shooting.”
It is unclear whether Hole was fired or left the job voluntarily, McCartt said at a 4 p.m. press conference. He was last employed there in 2020, possibly in the fall, McCartt said.
McCartt said law enforcement has identified two police reports on Hole, one from 2020 and one possibly from 2013. The 2020 report indicated a gun was seized from Hole, McCartt said. He was not sure whether the gun was returned to Hole, though he said that’s being investigated.
McCartt said law enforcement did not have any information indicating whether Hole had any relation to the workers at the facility beyond being a former employee. His motive is not clear.
“We’ve recently identified him, so now the work really begins trying to establish some of that and see if we can figure out some sort of motive in this, but we don’t have that right now,” McCartt said.
He said Hole had used a rifle in the shooting, but McCartt did not specify the make or model of the weapon. He said he was not sure whether the gun was possessed legally.
McCartt said there was “some” physical security in the entryway to the building, adding that “I think it served its purpose and it did what it was supposed to do last night.”
Detectives have served search warrants at “a couple” locations and for a vehicle, McCartt said. He would not say what, if anything, had been seized from those locations.
“Hopefully we will wrap up the processing of this crime scene here very shortly and be done at least with this portion of the investigation,” McCartt said.
