Rod Bradway had five years with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department

Sep 20, 2013 14:54 GMT  ·  By

A police officer has been fatally shot in Indianapolis, while responding to a call about a domestic dispute.

Officer Rod Bradway has been shot while on duty on the northwest side of town, Fox 59 writes.

He had been with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department for the past five years and reportedly “loved to come to work to do his job.”

“The officer responded to a disturbance around here and in the midst of that disturbance there were shots fired,” Lt. Chris Bailey with IMPD describes in a press conference.

He was hit by a bullet shortly after arriving at Eagle Pointe Apartments at 2:02 a.m. He entered after hearing a woman cry out for help from inside.

The woman's boyfriend opened fire and injured Bradway, but he was also shot, dying at the scene. Officials have identified the shooter as 24-year-old Steven Byrdo.

Bradway was transported to Wishard Hospital but succumbed to his injuries soon after. A child was also in the home, but escaped unharmed, as did Byrdo's girlfriend.

Public Safety Director Troy Riggs has put out a statement expressing his condolences and regret over the loss of the member of the force.

“IMPD lost one of its finest, but the city lost one of its finest.

“I’m always struck when you see the officers and they wear a uniform, they wear that uniform with pride, but that uniform also represents what’s good about our community. That our uniform represents the citizens we serve,” he says.

Lt. Bailey adds that Bailey's team will receive counseling after the deadly incident.

“The guys are doing as well as can be expected right now the post team is out here, those are our internal people trained to deal with these kinds of emotional issues that may arise with the officers,” he describes.

Byrdo had a criminal record which included previous arrests for drug-related charges and unlawful possession of a weapon.