INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD arrested a 19-year-old man for his alleged role in an armed robbery and deadly shooting that happened in May 2022 on the city's east side.
On May 3, 2022, police responded to a report of a person shot at the CITGO gas station, located at 1856 N. Rural St., near Massachusetts Avenue, shortly before 1:40 p.m.
Police found a man, later identified as 46-year-old Gary Underwood, who had been shot outside of the gas station.
Medics took Underwood to a hospital in critical condition, but he died from his injuries a short time later.
According to court documents, as Underwood got back in his 2008 Hummer H3 – after going inside the gas station – another man got in the vehicle from the passenger's side.
Court documents say the store clerk heard a gunshot and ran outside to check what happened. That's when he saw Underwood on the ground and the suspect driving away in the Hummer.
Surveillance footage from the gas station shows the suspect with a gun in his right hand before getting into the Hummer.
Detectives released photos of the suspect in the shooting and described him as being in his late teens or early 20s, standing between 5 feet, 7 inches and 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with a slender build. Detectives said the suspect was last seen was wearing a blue Adidas hooded sweatshirt and red and black shoes.
According to court documents, police said there was another armed carjacking that morning at the Marathon gas station, located at 448 N. Sherman Drive.
Surveillance footage at the Marathon gas station shows the suspect wearing the same clothing as the suspect in the CITGO surveillance footage later in the day.
In the morning incident, the victim told police he left the gas station when a man pointed two guns at him, according to court documents. Surveillance footage shows the suspect driving away with the victim's 2015 Buick Regal.
Court documents say this victim's car was found two hours after it was stolen from the Marathon gas station.
Crime scene technicians then collected possible DNA and fingerprints and swabbed for a droplet of blood on one of the seats that the victim said wasn't there before the carjacking.
On Feb. 9, 2023, forensic scientists identified 19-year-old Ronald Newman Jr., of Indianapolis, as a possible match to the DNA found in the Buick.
Court documents say Newman was arrested May 18, 2022, on an unrelated incident. He was required to wear a GPS monitoring device as a condition of his pre-trial release.
Detectives got a search warrant for Newman's GPS monitoring device, which showed him at the Marathon gas station at the time of the morning carjacking on May 3. However, detectives said the GPS monitoring device stopped tracking that afternoon for 26 minutes — during the time of the CITGO gas station carjacking.
On Feb. 11, police went to Newman's home in the 1800 block of Holloway Avenue, near East 16th Street and Roosevelt Avenue, and took him into custody.
Police got a search warrant for Newman's home, where they found two 9 mm handguns and three other handguns.
Police arrested Newman Feb. 14 for his alleged role in Underwood's murder.
The Marion County Prosecutor's Office will make the final charging decisions.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Detective Ryan Clark at the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or email him at Ryan.Clark@indy.gov.
Tips can also be made anonymously to Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477.