Police ID man shot dead, search for gunman continues

A gunman was on the loose Tuesday evening as police continued to investigate a midday shooting that left one man dead.

Wesley C. Ehrie, 32, was shot just before 11:30 a.m. in the 900 block of North Ninth Street.

Emergency responders performed chest compressions then transported him to St. Elizabeth East, where he died, Lafayette police confirmed shortly after 3 p.m.

At least one man was detained at the scene, but not arrested, as officers interviewed about a half-dozen people in the area, Lt. Brad Hayworth said.

Capt. Kurt Wolf said in a press release that officers still are looking for a homicide suspect who reportedly fled northbound on Ninth Street in a white four-door car immediately after the shooting.

Police scanner traffic Tuesday afternoon indicated that law enforcement agencies in multiple counties were looking for 37-year-old William J. Morrissey in connection with the shooting.

Morrissey, who was seen driving a 2008 Kia Optima with an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis license plate, is described as 6 feet tall, about 180 pounds, with blue eyes and blond hair or bald.

He is considered armed and dangerous.

Hayworth said officers believe the shooting is an isolated incident and that everyone involved was acquainted. The victim had apparently been shot inside a home or while entering the residence, he noted.

Wolf said investigators "quickly determined" that the confrontation that left Ehrie dead stemmed from a dispute over personal property.

Ehrie and Morrissey have drug-related criminal convictions in Tippecanoe County courts.

Ehrie was sentenced in 2005 to 15 years in prison followed by 11 years of probation. He was in the Miami Correction Facility in Bunker Hill until at least late 2012, according to court records.

Morrissey has pending charges of criminal confinement, domestic battery and theft. He has prior convictions for drug possession and conspiring to deal marijuana.

More than a dozen Lafayette police officers were on the scene, talking to witnesses who said that a man fled the area after the shooting. Purdue University police, along with a K-9 officer, also were on the scene assisting LPD.

Neighbors congregated as police investigated, but few seemed shaken by the shooting.

Shon Miller, who's lived in the area six years, said he wasn't shocked to learn that a shooting had happened so close to home. What surprised him was the timing.

"Usually, something like this doesn't happen during the day. It happens at night," he said, noting that he had left home for an hour then returned to find a crime scene right outside his door.

Casey Diaz, a Lafayette native who's lived about a block from the scene of the shooting four years now, said he had been in the shower when shots rang out, so he didn't hear about the shooting until his girlfriend called to make sure he was safe.

Diaz, too, seemed relatively unfazed.

"It's not unusual to see police here," he said.