WESTFIELD, Ind. — A 17-year-old from Indianapolis is facing 15 charges, including nine felonies, in Hamilton County after police say he opened fire in the parking lot of the Pacers Athletic Center on Sunday, Nov. 5. Court records show this happened after a heated seventh-grade basketball game his younger brother was allegedly playing in.
"Grand Park is not supposed to be a shooting gallery," Hamilton County Prosecutor Greg Garrison said. "It's bad any place it happens, but this is a place for families. It's a place to go have fun."
Among the charges the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office filed were three counts of attempted murder.
"You want to play with the big boy's tools, then you can get charged like a big boy because that's what he is, and that's the way we intend to face this," Garrison said.
The probable cause affidavit shows after a heated game that ended early due to a scuffle, an assistant coach and his family left for the parking lot. The assistant coach's son played for one of the teams and had gotten into an argument with the suspect's little brother during the game.
Police said the suspect fired shots toward that assistant coach's car while he and his family were inside it but missed. Court records show the suspect's gunfire hit four other cars in the parking lot.
"I'm not going to let it get away," Garrison said. "The fact that he's a lousy shot doesn't mean much to me. It means nothing."
The probable cause affidavit shows when police asked the suspect and his father if they owned any guns, they said no, but police said they recovered two firearms from their Indianapolis home.
"Not in Hamilton County, we're not doing that," Garrison said. "We opened the doors to Grand Park. They can do this at the State Fair, at the fairgrounds, but they didn't."
The suspect is being held in the Hamilton County Jail on a $400,000 bond. Court records show he told police he had been previously charged with possessing a gun in Georgia.