The Lafayette Police Department has released surveillance video footage related to a deadly shooting at a laundromat last December, providing a chilling look at a tragic incident that left two people dead and two others injured. The videos include bodycam footage which captured the events leading up to the self-inflicted gunshot wound by 73-year-old Louis McGlothlin, WTHR reported.
On the evening of December 5, 2024, McGlothlin arrived at the 3100 block of South Street in Lafayette, where he opened fire, leaving Keith Ford, 35, of Lafayette dead and injuring Renee Martin, 32, and Salvador de la Cruz, according to WISH-TV's reporting. In what the Tippecanoe County coroner declared a homicide, Ford succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds while McGlothlin later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at an Indianapolis hospital.
The released videos also contained a recording of McGlothlin speaking into the camera, where he talked about "the cancer that’s been allowed to develop within the city of Lafayette" and his intentions to take what he described as drastic action. In addition to the videos, Lafayette PD found a handwritten note indicating that McGlothlin had bought a pistol and had been contemplating this act as far back as the year 2000, according to Based in Lafayette.
Assistant Chief Verma pointed to this accumulation of evidence to articulate a narrative of long-term planning, and the decline in McGlothlin's mental health. "Based on the recovered videos, it is clear that Lewis had been planning this attack for an extended period," Verma said. "For many years, Lewis' mental health had been in decline, his delusions about individuals in Lafayette controlling his mind had intensified." Lafayette police consider the investigation closed following the analysis of the evidence and McGlothlin's apparent targeting of the laundromat due to his childhood familiarity with the area, as per Based in Lafayette's report.
