INDIANAPOLIS — A 20-year-old man from Indianapolis is facing a murder charge after IMPD detectives arrested him for a deadly shooting in July.
Zech Thomsen was charged Wednesday with the murder of 48-year-old Vincent Lovett Clifton, Jr.
Clifton died July 13 after a shooting in the 1900 block of Wallace Avenue, just west of Emerson Avenue. Another man, identified as Clifton's cousin, suffered serious injuries in the shooting.
A witness told police the shooting started as a family disagreement. According to the probable cause affidavit, Clifton, his cousin and other family members went to the home on Wallace Avenue and a fight broke out. During the fight, witnesses said someone started shooting from the side of the house.
In court documents, a witness told police, "Everybody was like 'Why are you shooting? But he wouldn't stop...Nobody knew why he shot. He had no reason to.'"
Thomsen was later identified as the shooter. Witnesses had previously said Thomsen had PTSD from being shot recently. Detectives later learned Thomsen was shot in the arm near 16th Street and Arlington Avenue on May 24, 2022.
IMPD also learned Thomsen had been arrested on Aug. 6, 2022, in an animal cruelty case.
In that case, Thomsen is accused of stabbing a dog to death. He was in jail awaiting an initial hearing for that case when detectives got a statement from him about the July shooting.
During that visit, Thomsen denied having any role in the deadly shooting.
IMPD later talked to Thomsen's alleged accomplice in the animal cruelty case, Clifford Massey. Massey told detectives he went to the home on Wallace Avenue with Thomsen on July 13 when the disturbance occurred. He also said Thomsen was carrying a gun at the time.
According to court documents, Massey said Thomsen stopped eating and sleeping in the days following the shooting. Then, Massey said Thomsen admitted to firing three shots during the incident.
A former neighbor of Thomsen's told police the night of the shooting, he returned home bragging about shooting two people, killing one of them.
Thomsen is scheduled for an initial hearing in the murder case on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. His trial for the animal cruelty case is scheduled to begin Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023.