INDIANAPOLIS — UPDATE: On Wednesday, July 23, a judge declared a mistrial in the murder trial of Raymond Childs III.
The Marion County Prosecutor's Office confirmed this was declared after something that was said during witness testimony.
There will be a hearing next week to establish next steps for the case.
Previous story below:
An Indianapolis man is on trial, accused of shooting and killing several family members.
Raymond Childs III faces six murder charges in connection with the crime carried out at an east Indianapolis home three years ago.
Childs is accused of shooting everyone in the house in the early morning hours of Jan. 24, 2021.
Prosecutors said Childs started upstairs and finished in the basement, killing his parents, Raymond and Kizzie Childs, his 13-year-old sister, Rita, his 18-year-old brother, Elijah, his brother's girlfriend, Kiara Hawkins, and her baby boy, who was just days away from being delivered.
Childs faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted.
"To see him behind bars for the rest of his life, that would be justice served for me," said Roniqua Hawkins, Kiara's mother.
Another brother, who was 15 at the time, allegedly witnessed the shootings and ran out of the house before being shot twice. He survived.
"Police asked him, 'Xavier, who shot you?' And while he lay in the hospital recovering from his wounds, he said, 'My brother, Raymond Ronald Lee Childs III,'" the prosecutor said.
But the defense told the jury that Childs was not there, that two guns were used and the evidence points to two shooters.
"We believe that the evidence will show that we are here today based on a misidentification and a misguided investigation," defense attorney Courtney Benson-Kooy said.
The testimony of the only survivor, Childs' younger brother, is expected later this week and most important for the jury to hear.