Off-duty Rutland police officer found dead in Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A 27-year-old police officer from Massachusetts who was in Indianapolis following the death of a friend was found fatally injured Friday in a downtown alley, authorities said.

Indianapolis police didn't immediately release information about the circumstances surrounding what happened to Sean Cooney of Worcester. Officials say they are questioning a person of interest in the death, but did not elaborate beyond that.

Officers called to the scene about 2:30 a.m. found Cooney with head wounds. He was a part-time police officer in Rutland, Mass., an 8,700-person town about 50 miles west of Boston.

The Rutland Police Department said Cooney went to Indiana to help with arrangements for a close friend who had recently died in the area.

An obituary posted online by a funeral home in Bloomington, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis, listed Cooney as the best friend of a 28-year-old former Massachusetts man who died in April.

Indianapolis police said Cooney was found near an apartment building across the street from the city's main library. He was taken in critical condition to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Rutland Police Department said Cooney worked as a dispatcher for three years before becoming an officer in February. He also worked as an officer for the Massachusetts Trial Court.

"We lost a brother and a friend," Rutland police Sgt. Nick Monaco said.

Rutland Select Board member Peter Letsky said Cooney's death followed several other tragic incidents in the last few years for the small central Massachusetts community.

"It's going to be a sad day in Rutland," he said.

Britney Gengel, a 19-year-old college student originally from Rutland, was in Haiti doing humanitarian work when she was killed by the country's January 2010 earthquake.

Last July, 52-year-old Francis Spokis was found beaten and stabbed to death in his Rutland home. Three people have been charged in connection with what police called a botched home invasion.

"We live in a society where things are different that they used to be," Letsky said.

Anyone with information regarding the circumstances of his death should call the Indianapolis, IN Metropolitan Police Department at 317-327-3811.

Cox Media Group