A 32-year-old Fishers man is facing multiple felony charges after he allegedly fired gunshots from his truck outside a Lawrence elementary school during dismissal, then led police on an erratic, high-speed chase across the area before he was stopped. Brenden King now faces charges including criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, criminal recklessness involving the discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle or inhabited dwelling, possession of a firearm on school property, resisting law enforcement, resisting law enforcement using a vehicle, operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person, and reckless driving.
The chaos began at East 63rd Street and Lee Road, an intersection that sits directly in front of Fall Creek Valley Middle School and Forest Glen Elementary School, both part of the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township. According to WTHR, a 911 call came in during school dismissal on September 2 while children were entering the school parking lot, and Lawrence Police Department officers were dispatched to the intersection after reports of a man firing gunshots from his truck. Elementary school surveillance video reportedly showed King pull up in front of the school, extend his arm from the truck, and fire gunshots, and officers later found two 9mm shell casings on the roadway in the school pickup zone.
Erratic Driving Reported Across Lawrence and Fishers
A Lawrence Police Department officer observed the truck speeding with smoke coming from it in a school zone, and witnesses reportedly saw King drive erratically before exiting the truck and firing shots, according to court documents cited by the station. King's truck allegedly traveled southbound on Oaklandon Road and drove at high speeds through a construction zone and a roundabout before continuing toward Pendleton Pike, according to the same account. Residents of the Bay Creek neighborhood reported the truck driving erratically through yards and almost striking mailboxes, and the vehicle also drove into trash cans and other roadside objects, per court documents.
An off-duty Indiana State Police trooper reported observing King's truck pull next to him off the roadway, drive into a ditch, and continue into grass, the article notes. A sergeant later located King's truck on Pendleton Pike west of Sunnyside Road, but the truck did not stop when the sergeant attempted a traffic stop. By the time the vehicle came to a stop near Sheila Drive and Pendleton Pike, its tires were reportedly shredded from the pursuit.
Investigators Say King Did Not Comply, Found Weapons in Truck
Investigators say King did not comply with commands to get on the ground once the truck stopped. Investigators also observed that King had bloodshot eyes, was not wearing a shirt, and appeared to have urinated on himself, the report states. Inside the truck, officers found a rifle bag in the back seat and a black handgun in the front seat, and a subsequent search warrant turned up a 9mm handgun and a shotgun in the vehicle.
King has an initial hearing scheduled for September 8. Fishers, where King resides, directly borders Lawrence Township and Marion County along the Fall Creek corridor immediately north of East 63rd Street, putting the alleged shooter's home community just minutes from the school where the incident began.
What Indiana Law Says About Guns on School Grounds
Under Indiana Code § 35-47-9-2, knowingly or intentionally possessing a firearm on K-12 school property or a school bus is classified as a Level 6 felony, carrying a statutory penalty of six months to 2.5 years in prison and fines up to $10,000, according to Justia Law. The criminal recklessness charge King faces carries even steeper exposure: under Indiana Code § 35-42-2-2(b)(2), discharging a firearm into an occupied building, vehicle, or inhabited dwelling where people are likely to gather escalates the offense to a Level 5 felony punishable by one to six years in prison, per B. Hicks Law.
Indiana enacted permitless handgun carry for eligible adults in July 2022, but that law explicitly does not extend to K-12 campuses, according to Rigney Law LLC. Firearms remain strictly prohibited on public or private school property regardless of a person's carry status under state law.
Second Firearm Incident in District Within Four Months
This is not the first time gunfire or weapons have threatened Lawrence Township schools this year. In May, an 18-year-old was arrested after allegedly making social media gun threats against a student and bringing a handgun to Lawrence Central High School, located about three miles south in the same district, as Hoodline previously reported. The Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township operates roughly 150 school buses daily to move more than 12,000 of its approximately 16,000 enrolled students, making dismissal times among the busiest traffic windows along corridors like Lee Road.
Lee Road has drawn safety attention before for reasons beyond gunfire. In April 2022, the City of Lawrence secured a $1.7 million state grant to build a 1.2-mile pedestrian trail along Lee Road between East 59th Street and East 63rd Street specifically to improve safety for students walking to Fall Creek Valley Middle School and Forest Glen Elementary School. Just months before this incident, flooding along Fall Creek in April 2026 forced Lawrence officials to temporarily close Lee Road between 63rd Street and Fall Creek Road, requiring district buses to reroute during dismissal.
Indiana's Secured School Safety Grant Program distributed more than $27 million in state funds to school districts and law enforcement agencies statewide during the 2025-2026 cycle to boost school resource officer presence and threat assessment capabilities. Whether King had any prior connection to either Lawrence Township campus, what may have motivated the shooting, and whether toxicology results will be released remain open questions as the case moves toward King's initial hearing.
