Man killed in shootout with police in Valparaiso, Indiana

VALPARAISO, Ind. (CBS) -- A man was shot and killed after exchanging gunfire with police in Valparaiso, Indiana Thursday, Indiana State Police said.

Indiana State, Porter County Sheriff's, and Valparaiso police officers saturated the neighborhood where it all happened Thursday afternoon.

State police said Valparaiso police officers were sent to the area of Fairgrounds Park, at Calumet and Evans avenues, for a suspicious person with a handgun.

Officers found a man that matched the description of the suspect near Butterfield Pavilion in the park. He fled and ran toward Calumet Avenue, state police said.

Neighbors had stepped outside to find a man with a gun acting erratically.

"All of a sudden, my neighbor comes running outside, and she sees me at the corner of the block, and I'm asking her like, 'Oh, what happened?' She goes: 'You need to get inside.' She's like, 'Our neighborhoods on lockdown. And I said, 'Oh, what happened?" And she goes, 'There's an active shooter.' She's like, 'You need to get home safe.'"

Carter rushed inside quickly and called her mother.

"Oh, it is terrifying," said mom Jamie Carter. "Obviously, you want to make sure that your children are safe and protected - and hearing about it, I came right home."

Officers pursued the man on foot, and an exchange of gunfire followed, state police said. Both Valparaiso and Porter County Sheriff's police were involved.

The commotion right down the street escalated Jamie Carter's concern when her daughter told her about the rapid shots fired.

"It was just back and forth for like about a solid 30 seconds," said Natalie Carter.

"I heard about 10, 15 or so gunshots, and my wife goes, asked me if there were gunshots. I said, 'Yeah,'" said Campbell. "I jumped up and looked out the back window, and I saw several officers gathered around somebody. They were rendering first aid to him."

After the shootout, the suspect was taken to Northwest Health Porter, where he died.

It was not clear late Thursday who fired first, but it ended with a man dead and a neighborhood in disbelief.

"The panic on the neighborhood was, the way she described it - it was scary," said Jamie Carter.

The suspect's identity has not been released.