Indiana man charged with murder in killing of deputy

LEBANON, Ind. (AP) - A prosecutor filed formal murder charges Tuesday against a man in the fatal shooting of a sheriff's deputy during a foot chase last week.

Online court records show that Boone County Prosecutor Todd Meyer also charged 21-year-old Anthony Baumgardt with possession of an illegal handgun, methamphetamine and marijuana.

Authorities say Baumgardt shot Deputy Jacob Pickett in the head while the deputy was helping chase Baumgardt and two other men in Lebanon, a city about 20 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

Baumgardt, of Lebanon, has been jailed since Saturday after he was released from a hospital where he was treated from being wounded when other officers returned fire, authorities said. Court and jail records don't list an attorney for him.

Meyer is scheduled to discuss the case at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

Baumgardt's father said Monday he's more concerned about the deputy's family than his son. Robert Baumgardt told WTHR-TV that his son quit school, left home about five years ago and got caught up in drugs and related crimes.

"He just went down the wrong road, had the attitude he don't care," Baumgardt said. "You can't help somebody that can't be helped."

He said his heart goes out to Pickett's wife and two young children.

"I'm hurting for everybody," Robert Baumgardt said. "What he's done don't hurt just a couple families, it's hurting the whole world."

Pickett, 34, became a Boone County deputy for nearly three years and was a police dog handler for the department.

Pickett's services begin with visitation 2-7 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home of Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, according to the sheriff's department. His funeral will begin at 11 a.m. Friday at Connection Pointe Christian Church in Brownsburg, the Indianapolis suburb where Pickett grew up and graduated from Brownsburg High School in 2002.