Officer Leath's partner recalls day she was killed during 1st day of trial for accused shooter

Indianapolis Police Officer Breann Leath was fatally shot within seconds of arriving at the scene of a domestic disturbance call on April 9, 2020, an officer who accompanied her testified on the first day of the murder trial of her accused killer.

“I remember seeing drywall and wood passing by my head,” within seconds of police knocking on the door at 1803 Edinburgh Square at 2:45 p.m. said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department East District Officer Dillon Webb. “I turned away and when I turned back I saw my partner, Officer Leath, lying on the ground.”

Elliahs Dorsey, 31, is charged with murder for Leath’s slaying and the attempted murder of three other officers, as well as the attempted murder and criminal confinement of his girlfriend, who called 911.

Dorsey fired several shots through the door when three IMPD officers answered the call from his girlfriend, who said he was behaving erratically, Deputy Prosecutor Nate Leffler said in his opening statement before Marion County Superior Court Judge Mark Stoner at the Marion County Community Justice Center.

“A hail of eight gunshots, ripping through apartment 10,” Leffler told the jury. “A high-powered semi-automatic pistol that sliced right through that door right through that wall.”

Leath, who had been on the force 2 ½ years, was struck twice in the head.

Dorsey has been declared mentally ill but can stand trial under Indiana law. The declaration, however, meant the Marion County prosecutor had to drop its plan to seek the death penalty.

Defense attorneys are seeking a verdict of not responsible by reason of insanity.

Webb said after the initial burst of gunfire he returned to the second-floor landing of the 3-story apartment building, then went outside and called for backup.  When more officers arrived they went back upstairs to get Leath and they heard another round of gunfire. When they got to the second-floor landing they saw Dorsey’s girlfriend. She had been shot several times but was awake and talking.

Leffler said Dorsey had chased her when she fled the apartment and shot her four times in the back.

Police with rifles entered the apartment and arrested Dorsey, said former Officer Joseph Charles, who was on the call, but said he left the force because of the stress of the shooting.

Public Defender Denna Martin told the jury in her opening statement Dorsey suffered paranoid delusions at the time.

“He woke up and thought his family had been killed and thought he was going to be killed,” Martin said. “He thought (the girlfriend) was setting him up.”

She said the paranoia was recent, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the break-up of his girlfriend of seven years.

“People started noticing lots of changes,” Martin said “He used to be fastidious but now he was sweaty and unkempt. His bedroom was filled with sweaty dirty clothes. He stared off in space.”

Webb said the officers arrived at the apartment with their lights and sirens off and didn’t identify themselves as police when they knocked on the door with a flashlight. Martin said that fed Dorsey’s delusion that someone was after him.

The first witness called by the prosecutor, Leath’s mother, Jennifer Leath, recounted in brief testimony how when she learned of the shooting. She said she had a fluttering premonition beforehand.

“I felt it before I heard, it was like something punched me and I felt sick immediately,” Leath said.

More police officers from the scene and crime scene technicians were scheduled to testify Tuesday. The trial is expected to last seven days.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis police shooting trial underway for accused cop killer