Indianapolis—
UPDATE: Many questions still remain about the suspect, 60-year-old Thomas Hardy and what set him off Sunday morning. Fox59 News has learned Hardy has an extensive criminal background with convictions for theft, battery and drug possession.Hardy was apprehended by metro police about eight hours after IMPD Officer David Moore was shot. Hardy was found inside a house on Indianapolis Avenue, on the city's near northwest side. A gun was also recovered from the home, a Bersa .380 caliber handgun in a green bag.
Tests are being done to see if it's the same gun that shot Officer Moore.
Neighbors say an elderly woman lives inside the home, along with a man who recently got out of jail. When Fox59 News knocked on the door Monday morning, a man inside was angry and threatened to call police.
After further digging, Fox59 News discovered Hardy knew this northwest side neighborhood well. Veteran police officers recall arresting him here as far back as the 1980s.
Police linked Hardy to a 1998 gold Toyota Camry which they say was stolen from outside Rock Bottom bar and restaurant in November 2010. A server there told Fox59 she thinks the car was stolen for the second time by somebody who made copies of the car keys during the first time it had been stolen. She claims she does not know Thomas Hardy.
He was allegedly spotted shoplifting home electronics at a Target store on North Keystone Avenue, then loading the loot into the Camry at least three times in mid-November.
The Camry was the car that Officer David Moore had pulled over Sunday morning when he was shot.
Hardy is suspected of robbing a Dollar General Store on South Emerson Avenue Sunday as well. His niece told Fox59 News that while her uncle is a petty thief and shoplifter, such violence as this would be out of character.
Hardy's prison record which dates back to 1984 would tend to confirm his niece's impression, though Hardy also had arrests for resisting law enforcement, criminal confinement and strangulation.
PREVIOUS STORY:
A man identified by police as 60-year-old Thomas Hardy is being called a "person of interest" in the shooting of IMPD Officer David Moore.
He was apprehended just before 6 p.m. on Sunday evening. According to the Indiana Department of Corrections website, Hardy has an extensive criminal background with a long list of prison convictions for theft, battery and drug possession dating back to at least 1984.
Sunday afternoon, metro police arrested him in connection with a Dollar General store robbery, which occurred minutes after Moore was shot. He is currently being held in the Marion County Jail on charges of theft and firearm possession by a serious violent felon.
