INDIANAPOLIS -- Jamaal Tinsley appears calm and under
control in surveillance videos taken after the Indiana Pacers guard
and his entourage were shot at in a parking lot outside a five-star
hotel over the weekend.
Tinsley was not injured, but Pacers equipment manager Joey
Qatato was shot in both elbows at the Conrad Hotel early Sunday
morning in downtown Indianapolis.
Police said the trouble started at a nightclub on the city's
west side. Tinsley's group had arrived at the "Cloud 9" club in a
Mercedes, a Rolls Royce and a Dodge Charger, all owned by Tinsley.
A group gathered around the Rolls Royce and harassed Tinsley about
his cars and his earnings.
After leaving the club, the group realized a car carrying at
least four people and a pickup truck with at least two people were
following them, said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department
Sgt. Paul Thompson. When they pulled into the hotel parking lot,
someone in the truck opened fire with a .223 caliber assault rifle,
spraying bullets on the hotel, Tinsley's cars and nearby buildings.
Qatato was struck while sitting with Tinsley in the Rolls-Royce.
Qatato, 48, was taken to Methodist Hospital, treated and released.
Following the shootings, Tinsley's entourage drove to the hotel
entrance. Police released surveillance videos, with no sound, taken
at the hotel. The timeline after the initial shootings, according
to the clock on the video:
• 3:42 a.m.: Tinsley's Rolls-Royce pulls up in front of the
Conrad. Four men get out, Qatato is last.
• 3:43: Qatato walks into the hotel with his shirt around his
elbows to stop the bleeding.
• 3:44: Tinsley and another man who had been in the Rolls-Royce
enter the lobby but quickly leave. The Mercedes drives up, two men
get out and Tinsley points up the street in the direction the truck
had headed. Qatato sits down in the lobby and is attended to by
hotel employees. Clearly shaken and nervous, he is instructed to
put his feet up on a chair.
• 3:45: Tinsley's Charger arrives, and both the Charger and the
Mercedes turn north onto Illinois Street, apparently to follow the
truck, while Tinsley remains behind with Qatato.
• 3:49: A police officer arrives at the Conrad lobby; at 3:51 an
exasperated Tinsley is seen walking with both hands on his head.
• 3:53: An ambulance arrives for Qatato.
According to police, while pursuing the pickup truck, Tinsley's
brother James fired shots with a 9 millimeter handgun. There were
at least three guns in Tinlsey's group, all of which were legal.
Though police didn't say Jamaal Tinsley was carrying a gun, he does
have a permit, as does his brother.
According to a 911 call, multiple shots were fired before
Tinsley's group entered the Conrad.
"As far as I could tell, because I wasn't listening for it, six
or seven," a Conrad employee told police.
Thompson said detectives told him there were five bullet holes
in the Charger, "a bunch" in the Rolls-Royce and none in the
Mercedes.
James Tinsley hasn't been charged for firing a handgun because
the incident is still under investigation, Thompson said.