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Last updated on Monday, February 27, 2012
(SEYMOUR) - The death of 35-year-old John Michael Fish of Indianapolis has been ruled a suicide after results of an autopsy were released Friday.
The autopsy was conducted by the Kentucky State Medical Examiner in Louisville.
Jackson County Coroner Roger Wheeler said Friday that Fish, whose body was found in Seymour on Wednesday afternoon, died of a "self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head."
The autopsy also revealed that Fish had another gunshot wound, but that it was not a contributing factor in his death.
"There was a secondary wound to the right flank, but it did not play a role in the cause of death," Wheeler said. The flank is described as the fleshy area between the ribs and the hip.
Fish's body was found more than 24 hours after he was involved in a police-action shooting near U.S. 50 and Interstate 65 on the city's east side.
That incident involved Indiana State Police Trooper Chris Lockman, who attempted to stop a Chevrolet pickup being driven south on the interstate by Fish. Police have said that Lockman was making a routine traffic stop when Fish exited the interstate at Seymour and drove west on Tipton Street before turning north on Sandy Creek Drive. He then pulled onto Cottonwood Drive and allegedly fired a gun at Lockman.
Lockman returned fire, but Fish fled the scene on foot. Police had said they didn't believe that Fish had been wounded in the shootout.
Fish's body was spotted by an ISP helicopter along the CSX railroad tracks on the west side of the interstate and north of Sandy Creek Drive.
Wheeler said there were no other physical injuries to Fish's body, but that Fish had been out in the cold.
"He did have some frostbite to his lower extremities, but again it was a non-contributing factor in his death," Wheeler said.
He said the exact time of death was not determined.
"It's hard to pin down a time because it was so cold," he said.
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