LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- U.S. Marshals and Louisville Metro Police officers tried to serve a warrant Friday afternoon in the Shawnee neighborhood when a suspect shot and killed herself inside a home, LMPD said.
The suspect, believed to be an 18-year-old woman, was wanted for first-degree assault in connection to the shooting of a Lyft driver in August, LMPD spokesman Dwight Mitchell said during a briefing Friday night.
Officers and marshals arrived at a home near 36th and Jefferson streets around 3 p.m. to serve the warrant. As authorities knocked on the door of the house and announced themselves, they heard a gunshot, according to Mitchell.
The woman was found dead inside with a "single, self-inflicted gunshot wound," he said, adding that no marshals or officers fired a weapon and that "several" other people were inside the house when the suspect shot herself.
There is no body camera footage of the incident, Mitchell said, because the marshals are deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service and "do not utilize body cameras."
The marshals were involved in the investigation because LMPD's resources have run "rather thin" during a year in which Louisville has seen a record number of homicides, Mitchell said.
The LMPD officers on scene also did not have body cameras because they were "under the auspices" of the marshals, he said.
LMPD also refuted a social media rumor that police shot and killed a Black woman.
"We've had enough incidents that happen in our community and certainly we don't want any erroneous information to get out," Mitchell said during the briefing. "It's not fair to the people involved and certainly not to the police department."
LMPD's Public Integrity Unit is investigating the incident, which Mitchell said is standard procedure "any time a weapon is discharged when LMPD is on scene."
Update: This story has been updated as police initially reported that the suspect was wanted in connection to a different crime.
Copyright 2020 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
