INDIANAPOLIS — Prosecutors filed formal charges Thursday against a man accused in a weekend shooting near Fountain Square.
13News has learned the woman shot and injured is a pregnant mother. According to court documents, she is believed to be about 10 weeks pregnant.
Family and friends say the woman loves her kids and loves life.
"She's always happy. no matter what. I've never seen her mad. Never," said friend Ksha Tyus.
Now, this mom of two young girls, who's pregnant with her third child, is critically hurt from a shooting.
"I'm just thankful she's still here. Really," Tyus said. "As soon as I heard that (she was shot) there were tears down my face. I was mad."
The shooting happened early Sunday inside a home on Harlan Street, near Fountain Square.
IMPD officers made an arrest quickly.
Prosecutors charged 24-year-old Stephen Wieland with attempted murder, aggravated battery, domestic battery with a deadly weapon, and battery injuring a pregnant woman.
Friends say the woman's youngest and her unborn child are both Wieland's. Tyus said the couple had a rocky relationship.
"We'd talk about how you want to fix somebody or you wish it would work, but sometimes it just doesn't and you gotta let go," Tyus said.
Neighbors told police the couple fought often. One neighbor told officers after hearing the shot, they heard someone say, "we gotta go, cops are coming."
Court documents show a bullet fragment was collected from the woman's head. The documents also claim the woman was shot in the forehead and lost her left ear, but she survived.
When police interviewed Wieland, they said he had smeared blood on his face and hands. Wieland told police when he came home, he found the door open, things messed up in the living room and the woman shot upstairs.
While searching the home, police found a gun in a diaper bag and collected it as evidence, along with a magazine, bullets, a shell casing and a bullet fragment.
The Department of Child Services removed the children, ages 1 to 5, from the home.
Court documents also show police had been called to the home a series of times since 2021, including: vandalism and theft involving Wieland, domestic battery, and an instance in August 2022 where Wieland allegedly pointed a gun at a man and threatened to kill him in front of his child. No charges were filed in any of those cases, according to police.
The violence Sunday is now prompting friends to share an urgent message for anyone in a difficult relationship.
"There's places you can go, immediate housing you can get, people you can call, just to receive help even if you still have faith in you and your partner and ya'll want to go to counseling," Tyus said, "but you're never stuck, never."
Meanwhile, the woman and her unborn baby are in the hospital.
"I love her. That's my girl," Tyus said. "She's gonna pull through, no doubt."
EDITOR'S NOTE: The name of the woman shot has been removed from the story.