Man shot and killed outside Chuck E. Cheese, Indiana cops say. ‘All the kids saw it’
Police in Indianapolis described a chaotic scene at a Chuck E. Cheese, where a man was shot and killed as children celebrated birthdays inside the entertainment center.
The shooting happened around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 20, outside a Chuck E. Cheese on East Washington Street, police say. Officers were dispatched to reports of a person shot, and they found a man lying in the parking lot with a gunshot wound, according to a police news release.
The man, later identified by the Marion County Coroner’s Office as Anthony Tinnin, 34, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Officers have not released any suspect information.
Samone Burris, a spokesperson for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, said the man had walked out of the restaurant when he was shot in the parking lot, WTHR reported.
“There was chaos. They were met with chaos,” Burris told WTHR of the scene inside the restaurant. “There were people trying to flee the facility. There were people trying to get in their cars and get away from the area as gunshots had been fired in the area.”
Witnesses said two suspects drove away from the scene in a white SUV, according to WXIN.
Shantel Dalton, a parent inside the restaurant during the shooting, said adults were grabbing their kids and trying to get to safety, she told WISH.
“Unfortunately, all the kids saw it, heard it,” Dalton told the station. “All of the kids, a lot of the kids were in there crying, you know, and looking for their parents. It was just very chaotic with all those children crying, looking for their parents.”
Detectives believe the shots came from outside Chuck E. Cheese, but a motive for the shooting is unclear, police said.
Tinnin’s family said he was shot in front of his children, ages 3, 5 and 8, WRTV reported.
“It’s tragic to watch your father gunned down like that,” said Indianapolis police Deputy Chief Kendale Adams, according to WRTV.
Chuck E. Cheese was closed Monday, as the restaurant’s glass windows were shattered during the shooting, WXIN said.
This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Man shot and killed outside Chuck E. Cheese, Indiana cops say. ‘All the kids saw it’."