INDIANAPOLIS — Clyde Johnson, the man charged in the Jan. 3 deadly Castleton Square Mall shooting, is in police custody after a warrant was out for his arrest.
Johnson, 19, was charged Tuesday with voluntary manslaughter, aggravated battery and battery by means of a deadly weapon. There had been a warrant out for his arrest until police took him into custody Thursday.
Johnson is accused of killing 16-year-old Michael Mason in the incident. According to court documents, Mason and Justin Johnson-Sparks were at the mall that day and happened to walk to a car that looked the same as theirs and was in the same area they parked.
Johnson-Sparks told police he and Mason walked up to the wrong Chevy Impala and a man in the backseat opened fire, killing Mason.
IMPD officers had detained Johnson at the scene of the shooting, and he was cooperating with detectives.
Johnson told police he was looking at his phone when he spotted two men walking up to his car on each side. According to court documents, Johnson said he thought he was about to be robbed, so he grabbed his gun and shot at Mason, who was on the passenger side.
Johnson then allegedly said he chased after the other man with Mason and only shot at him once. Investigators claim Johnson told them he was "chasing him to make sure he didn't go anywhere because I knew the cops were coming" and "I went to find him…They can't get away. If I was to let them get away, they would return and finish me off."
Johnson also told police he was concerned because he was a witness in another homicide. Court documents show Johnson witnessed the November 2022 murder of his friend's mother on the northwest side of Indianapolis.
Four days after the Castleton Mall shooting, Johnson's friend, Asati Robinson, was shot and critically wounded.
A date for Johnson's initial court appearance in the mall shooting has not yet been set.