Police: Woman allegedly shoots self in police vehicle

GAS CITY, Ind. (AP) - Authorities in Indiana were investigating the death of a 32-year-old woman who allegedly shot herself while sitting in a police vehicle during a crash investigation.

Indiana State Police said Sunday that Amanda Elbert of Alexandria, Indiana, was not in custody and used a gun that was in her purse.

Elbert was in a car that crashed about 8:15 a.m. Saturday into a utility pole near Gas City in Grant County, north of Muncie. The car's driver allegedly fled before police arrived.

Elbert told officers she was not injured. She was allowed to sit in the front passenger seat of a police vehicle to keep warm.

As officers were conducting an inventory of the crashed car, they heard a gunshot. Elbert was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Grant County sheriff's office asked the state police to investigate the shooting.