Democratic congressional candidate Jeanine Lee Lake says that she was shot at just before heading into an event with other local Democrats in Muncie last night.

The candidate, who is running against Columbus Republican Greg Pence for Indiana’s Sixth Congressional District posted on social media last night about the incident says that she was in her vehicle and heard the “pop pop pop” of three gunshots in her direction. Other witnesses in her video also describe hearing what they called a small caliber weapon firing in the area and hitting metal.

Muncie and Indianapolis media had reports yesterday that Lake has been receiving phone threats to her campaign and vandalism to her property including a window broken out of her campaign RV, door magnets stolen and a license plate missing off of her father’s car. The Delaware County prosecutors office told WTHR-TV that it had no evidence of threats or criminal activity in a package of written materials that had been mailed to Lake.

In last night’s video, Lake said police were investigating the gunshots.

Photo courtesy of candidate’s website

German Township Volunteer Fire Department firefighters put out a blaze in a pickup truck this morning that tied up traffic on Interstate 65.

According to firefighters, they were called to the fire just north of the Edinburgh exit at about 9 a.m. this morning to find the vehicle engulfed in flames. It took about 300 gallons of water and less than three minutes to put out the blaze .

The driver of the vehicle said he started to see smoke coming from under the hood. When he pulled over and opened the hood he saw the engine compartment was on fire.

Indiana State Police say that the southbound lanes were closed for just over an hour and a half while the scene was cleaned up.

Photo courtesy of Indiana State Police.

Governor Holcomb is extending Indiana’s mask mandate, but says he won’t reimpose restrictions on restaurants and bars.

Our news-gathering partners at Network Indiana are reporting that Holcomb says the problem isn’t the lifting of capacity limits on restaurants and bars, but that too many people are holding big gatherings without masks or social distancing. Holcomb says many new infections have been traced back to weddings or family gatherings where people failed or refused to wear masks.

The governor says he understands “mask fatigue” is setting in, but says capacity limits aren’t the issue. He notes the Indianapolis Colts and Indy Eleven successfully admitted thousands of fans to Lucas Oil Stadium by enforcing mask and distancing precautions.

There are more Hoosiers in the hospital with coronavirus than at any time since mid-May, and Indiana’s five highest one-day totals for new cases have all come in the last week. The state has diagnosed more than 11,000 new cases in that span. About 400 Hoosiers are in intensive care with coronavirus, the most since May.

Holcomb says the virus’s resurgence across the Midwest is a reminder that people need to do what they can to reduce the odds of the virus’s spread, with masks being one of the main steps within people’s control. He says not masking up represents a disregard for fellow Hoosiers.

The mask mandate has been extended to Nov. 14

Holcomb says he’ll reevaluate whether to reimpose restrictions in another week.

The years Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers has spent in office will still not vest him with the pension benefits of a county deputy.

The Bartholomew County Council heard a proposal from the sheriff’s department merit board again this week to change the current rules to allow merit deputies to qualify for pension benefits when they retire, if they have served 8 years in the department, instead of the current 8 years and 1 month requirement.

Jeff Beck, attorney for the sheriff’s department, said that the extra 1 month requirement is a leftover from the old boys network days, when the sheriff’s department did not want an outsider to run for the office. Sheriffs have a two-term limit in Indiana, meaning a sheriff who has not previously served in the department will never earn pension benefits from the office.

Other county office holders who are term limited can begin accruing pension benefit at the flat eight years, but they do use a different pension system than deputies.

Susan Thayer-Fye, head of the merit board, pointed out that based on the actuarial estimates used to calculate the county’s pension contributions, the county has been pre-paying the sheriff’s benefits, even though he can not access them.

The issue has been before the council several times and the County Council has been reluctant to change the pension agreement to benefit Myers. This week the proposal went down without even getting a motion for approval.

The council did approve increases to the death benefits paid to a deputy’s spouse and children should the deputy die on duty. The current pay out is $200 per month for a spouse, and $30 per month per each minor child. which are the state’s statutory minimums. The merit board increased the spousal pay to $1,000 per month and to $200 per minor child. The change will be retroactive to the start of the year.

A search for a Bartholomew County man who had possibly been shot ended at Columbus Regional Hospital Wednesday morning.

The Sheriff’s Department released public alerts through the media and the Everbridge Alert System Wednesday morning that they were searching for 50-year-old Mark A. Ward, who had contacted friends and told them that he had been shot in a Shelby County incident Tuesday evening. Ward reportedly refused to give his location to friends and said he did not want to be treated for the wound, according to deputies.

He was believed to be driving a car that had the rear window shot out.

Bartholomew County deputies, Columbus Police and Indiana State Police began searching the area around Clifty Park for Ward on Tuesday evening and resumed the search Wednesday morning. That led Bartholomew Consolidated Schools to lock down Columbus East High School.

Later in the morning, authorities announced that Ward had been found after being taken to the hospital for treatment. An investigation by Shelby County authorities is ongoing.

The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a possible victim of a shooting that detectives believe occurred in Shelby County yesterday, October 13.

Mark A. Ward, 50, of Bartholomew County, was last seen in the area of the 13000 block of County Road North 500E. He was driving a blue, two-door Honda passenger vehicle with the back window shot out.

Detectives believe the Honda driven by Mr. Ward may be a 1999 model with an Indiana dealer plate number of L499950. If you see a vehicle matching the above description, call 911 immediately.

Detectives have spoken to witnesses who said that Ward was shot and injured. It has not been determined where the shooting took place but law enforcement agencies from the surrounding area have been looking for Ward and the vehicle.

Ward has allegedly had video chats with friends but would not give a location of his whereabouts. Ward has told friends that he is injured but does not wish to be located. Ward may be in possession of a 22 Cal. Rifle or a handgun of some type.

Investigators believe Ward may be in the area of Clifty Park. State Police, Columbus Police and Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department have been searching that area since yesterday evening.

Law enforcement will continue their search this morning in the area of Clifty Park. At this point, Ward has made no statements of injuring others during chats with friends. Law Enforcement is worried about Ward’s safety and he is not a suspect in any crime at this point.

As a precaution, Columbus East has instituted a lockout due to the situation,

Any further questions, please contact Chief Deputy Chris Lane at the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office 812-379-1650.