USA - Indiana. Police: Cooper left suicide note.

Police: Cooper left suicide note. The fatal shooting Tuesday of Paula Cooper, the woman who once was the youngest person in America sentenced to death, was a suicide, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. "Based upon the evidence at the scene and the fact that there was a note left to indicate the intent of Ms. Cooper, we believe this to be a suicide, and it's being investigated as a suicide," said Lt. Richard Riddle, IMPD spokesman. Riddle said the contents of Cooper's suicide note are being withheld under the police investigatory records exception to Indiana's Access to Public Records Act. However, police said the note generally covered Cooper's struggle to survive over the past 2 years outside the prison walls. Cooper, 45, was found dead Tuesday morning lying on her right side next to a tree in the 9500 block of Angola Court on the northwest side of Indianapolis, according to police. Police reports indicate she shot herself with a Bryco .380 caliber handgun they found in her lap. Her car was parked nearby.