A traffic stop on Interstate 80/94 turned into a shootout that left a motorist fatally shot and an Indiana state trooper wounded early Tuesday in Hammond.
Just after midnight, the trooper, two Lake County deputies and a Hammond police officer assisted in the traffic stop of a gray Hyundai Elantra for a “minor violation” just east of the Illinois-Indiana state border, Indiana state police said.
A shootout then erupted between the Elantra driver and the officers and the driver, 34-year-old Aaron Barnes from Gary, Indiana, died at the scene after being shot, state police said.
The trooper, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, was shot in the chest and taken to an area hospital before being transferred to the University of Chicago Medical Center for surgery, officials said. His condition was stabilized and he was expected to make a full recovery.
A 34-year-old woman who was a passenger in the Elantra was arrested, though further details weren’t immediately released.
The trooper is a canine officer and has been with the agency for eight years, officials said.
No other officers were injured.