Kevin W. Meyers, the suspect in the shooting of an Indiana State Police trooper, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest that occurred in a cornfield not far from his home outside of Westville Friday morning, authorities say.
LaPorte County Coroner Lynn Swanson said she is waiting on toxicology reports before an official ruling, but the autopsy determined that Meyers, 54, fatally shot himself.
Swanson didn’t answer questions beyond her initial findings. Meyers had gunshot wounds when he was found in the field, according to an Indiana State Police news release.
Meyers is accused of opening fire from inside the cab of a reportedly stolen pickup truck, after Sgt. Justin Heflin struck the vehicle from behind as it entered the Speedway station parking lot on U.S. 421 at 7:30 a.m. Friday, police said. Heflin was pursuing the reported stolen vehicle that had turned off Interstate 94.
Yellow evidence markers charted at least 28 shells from the exchange of gunfire, most of them clustered around the driver’s side door of Heflin’s cruiser. Heflin was struck several times and taken to South Bend Memorial Hospital, police have said, where he underwent surgery and was last reported in stable condition.
Meyers drove away and apparently headed 5 miles south on U.S. 421 toward his home in New Durham Township. The pickup truck was found abandoned in a tree line, not far from Meyers’ home in the 7500 block of W. Joliet Road.
Scores of area law enforcement officers were engaged in the manhunt, which ended with the discovery of Meyers’ body at 11:15 a.m.
Before the parking lot confrontation at the Speedway, Meyers had successfully eluded Berrien County Sheriff’s deputies in southwest Michigan.
Berrien County Sheriff’s deputies started the pursuit at 5:30 a.m. Friday of a 2019 Silver Ford F-150 as the chase spilled over the state line into rural LaPorte County.
Meyers had taken the pickup truck from a Michigan City car dealership for a test drive and failed to return it, the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department told WBND Channel 57 in South Bend. Meyers is also suspected of stealing a license plate from a vehicle parked on the Four Winds Casino lot in New Buffalo, the station reported.
According to online court records, Meyers had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
LaPorte County authorities filed a failure to return to lawful detention charge, a Level 6 felony, on June 26 after Meyers didn’t report after work to the LaPorte County Community Corrections Facility, court records show.
Meyers had a long history of encounters with the law, as 29 criminal felony and misdemeanor cases have been filed against him since 1993. Most of the 19 felony charges were Level 5 and 6 cases that originated in LaPorte County, where he lived.
And most of the cases involved non-violent theft offenses. When Meyers was younger, he was charged a number of times with misdemeanors for passing bad checks. In recent years, Meyers was charged seven times for felony auto theft offenses.
There was one conviction for a domestic violence incident that occurred July 26, 2017.
During the past five years, Meyers has been in and out of the LaPorte County Jail, LaPorte County Community Corrections and state prison, according to online court and prison records.
Around April 26, Meyers was released from the Indiana Department of Correction so he could serve the rest of his three-year sentence by LaPorte Circuit Court Judge Julianne K. Havens, which was imposed on Feb. 21, 2025, court records show.
In two previous cases, according to online court records, Meyers was convicted of failing to return to custody from work release in January 2022, and of interfering with his electronic monitoring device on Nov. 11, 2024.
It is the second time within two months that a law enforcement officer has been shot in LaPorte County.
Less than a mile from the Speedway station, LaPorte County Sheriff’s Deputy Jon Samuelson was shot three times on May 22 in the emergency room of Franciscan Health-Michigan City. Sharod Grafton, 22, of Chicago, was captured in the woods next to the hospital and faces several felony charges. Samuelson is recovering at a rehabilitation facility in Chicago.
Chesterton police officers Lt. David Virjevich and Nolan Mancera engaged in a shootout with Joseph Gerber, 45, of Winamac, outside of the Hilton Garden Inn on Gateway Boulevard in Chesterton on June 18, 2025.
Gerber, who was wanted for violating probation terms from an armed robbery in Elkhart County, fired first, striking Mancera. Gerber fatally shot himself in the head after being wounded. Mancera recovered from his wounds and returned to active duty.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
