(WHDH) — Authorities are investigating after a woman fatally shot herself while sitting in a police car following a crash over the weekend, officials said.
Officers responding to a report of a crash in Grant County, Indiana, on Saturday around 8:15 a.m. found a 2007 Chevrolet Impala that had struck a utility pole, according to Indiana State Police.
The driver, 32-year-old Amanda Elbert, was not injured in the crash.
Because of frigid temperatures, an Upland police officer reportedly let Elbert sit in the front seat of their cruiser so she could keep warm while investigators worked at the scene.
“As officers were conducting an inventory of the Chevrolet in preparation for it to be towed from the scene, they heard a gunshot,” state police said in a news release.
Elbert shot herself with a handgun that she had retrieved from her purse, according to investigators.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
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