3 p.m. update:
Following a forensic autopsy performed this afternoon, Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting has ruled this death to be a suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot.
9 a.m. update:
The Bartholomew County Coroner’s office has identified the deceased man found in the I-65 northbound rest area after a report of a shot being fired in the area.
This morning, Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting identified the man as Alvin W. Bickell, 63, of Columbus.
The shooting was reported to the coroner’s office at 6:14 a.m. today after a caller reported hearing a single gunshot at the rest area, Nolting said. The rest area is about three miles south of the Taylorsville/Edinburgh exit.
Nolting went to the Columbus Regional Hospital Emergency Department,
where the patient had been transported by ambulance and was pronounced dead.
An autopsy for Bickell is being arranged and more details will be released once that has been completed, Nolting said.
The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office is the primary law enforcement agency investigating the death with the coroner’s office.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies were sent to an I-65 rest park in the county at 6:25 a.m. today about a report of a single gunshot fired in the area.
When deputies arrived, they found an individual on the ground in the rest park, and the individual was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead, deputies said.
Sheriff deputies said the public is not in danger and deputies are not searching for a suspect.
For more on this story, see Friday’s Republic.
