Bloomington police track shooting suspect to Spencer, arrest him at Speedway gas station
A 42-year-old man is hospitalized with a gunshot wound and police have arrested a suspect after locating him in Spencer.
At 5:20 p.m. Dec. 27, Bloomington police responded to a report that a man had been shot. They found the victim near Wheeler Mission on Westplex Drive off West Third Street.
Someone had called 911 to report hearing a gunshot, and then a man yelling for help. He walked through a wooded area and police found him near the mission, which serves people experiencing homelessness.
The man was taken to IU Health Bloomington Hospital for treatment of a bullet wound to his upper torso and is in stable condition, according to a news release from BPD Capt. Ryan Pedigo.
The man apparently was shot in the 1500 block of West Kirkwood Avenue. "It was reported that the victim had been arguing with a woman in the backyard of the residence when a man approached him and shot him with a handgun," the news release said.
The victim told police he tried to call 911 for help, but said the man who shot him stole his cellphone, so he began walking toward Westplex Avenue.
Officers searched the area and could not locate the suspect, identified as 49-year-old Lewis Robert Siegrist.
Later that night, they learned Siegrist had fled Bloomington and gone to a residence in Spencer. BPD detectives parked near the home and conducted surveillance until the suspect left early the morning of Dec. 28.
They followed Siegrist to the Speedway gas station on West Morgan Street in Spencer, where he was arrested at 1:40 a.m. without resistance, the news release said. Police said he was armed with a 9mm handgun.
Detectives brought Siegrist back to Bloomington and interviewed him. He then was booked into the Monroe County Jail on preliminary charges of attempted murder, robbery while armed with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, criminal recklessness and pointing a firearm.
Siegrist also had arrest warrant for a felony charge of possession of methamphetamine.
Court records show Siegrist has a lengthy criminal record in southern Indiana, with cases dating back to 1995. He has been sent to state prison four times: for intimidation in 2018, for intimidation again in 2014 and for domestic battery in 2010.
Siegrist also got a 12-year sentence in Orange County on a felony escape conviction in 1996; he served eight years and was released in 2004, according to state prison records.
Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or at 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Police track supect in Bloomington shooting to Spencer and arrest him
