INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD arrested a man Friday, Oct. 6 for his alleged role in a September 2022 shooting at an east Indianapolis barber shop. The shooting left one person dead and two others injured.
Jamion Johnson, 24, of Indianapolis, has been formally charged with attempted murder, reckless homicide and criminal recklessness.
Johnson made his initial court hearing Tuesday, Oct. 10. A pretrial conference is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 24 at 1 p.m.
Police responded to a report of a person shot around 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, in the 4600 block of East 10th Street, near Emerson Avenue.
Phillip Howard cuts hair at Champz Barber Shop on 10th Street. He was working that day when shots rang out.
"It was my smoke break time, so I'm going outside to smoke on my break. As soon as I'm about to smoke, pow, pow, pow, pow. We're like, what's going on? I ran to the back of the building, ran in through the back, people were running out the back," Howard said. "It happened so fast."
IMPD said a patrolling officer spotted two people running from that area. The officer began chasing the two suspects and was able to detain them. During that chase, the call of the shooting came in to police dispatchers.
Responding officers found a man, identified by the Marion County Coroner's Office as 24-year-old Kevin Lamont Stigger, dead inside a barber shop.
"Anytime something like this happens, when you're just literally trying to get a haircut, the community's been on edge for the better part of a year while we were investigating this," IMPD Sgt. Anthony Patterson said. "I can say that the streets are a heck of a lot safer now that this individual is off the streets."
A 68-year-old woman who had been shot was also located inside the shop. She was taken to Methodist Hospital in critical condition.
A 24-year-old man who had been shot and ran from the shop was located in the 4700 block of East 10th Street and described as "stable" when taken to Eskenazi Hospital.
"It was a big relief for me. I feel so relieved right now," Howard said. "I didn't have any people to cut today, and I still came in. I'm like yes, they finally caught the guy. I can finally get that off of my head, and we can just push forward now. I can tell people he was caught and that justice is served."
Police said although it took a year to make an arrest, detectives never stopped their investigation.
"I believe that this case just proves that sometimes these cases can go on a while," Patterson said. "Sometimes our detectives, they may have really good information, but they need to prove it. They will put that work in."