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William Deaton, 38, was shot to death on the afternoon of Sept. 30. Investigators said Deaton responded to a cry for help from a woman he knew as a 17-year-old boy pulled a gun on her during an argument.
Officials with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said the 17-year-old was taken into custody on Monday after he was identified as the suspect in the fatal shooting. IMPD did not identify the suspect by name.
”Why were these individuals meeting up at this location? What was going on?” asked IMPD Officer Tommy Thompson. “We see this sadly in our community, where sometimes there are other types of criminal activity that sometimes maybe occurring that leads up to these instances that often take a life or someone’s just shot in an aggravated assault. Here’s something detectives have to look at. What was the meeting at the meetup? And that is something that will have to come out when this goes to court.”
The woman’s description of the teen, an eyewitness account and video recovered from neighbors’ security cameras led detectives to a home on Stanhope Drive just a few blocks away Monday afternoon and the arrest of the boy, who will be waived over to Superior Court to face a murder charge.
According to an update from IMPD, officers were told at the time by witnesses that the suspect reportedly ran from the scene just before they arrived. While IMPD K9 and SWAT officers attempted to locate the suspect, he was not found at the time.
“The initial investigation there at the Austral Drive incident, that led us to a lot of information,” said Thompson. “That technology piece, that commitment by the community members to step up and step forward, everything that I was on scene saying that day, they came forward and did, and because of that, detectives had enough information that led them to that other address on Stanhope where we were able to locate this individual and take him into custody.”
The crime scene technicians were carrying metal detectors, which are typically used to locate expelled shell casings at the site of a murder.
“Right behind that location is a trail between a complex north of that location and the complex where this Austral Drive is located,” said Thompson. “There’s a trail system that goes right between there and that’s where this incident occurred.”
Upon his departure from the crime scene today, the detective placed several pieces of brush to conceal the entrance to the woods at the end of an asphalt path.
Detectives used witness accounts, video footage and forensic evidence to identify the suspect as the 17-year-old.
“Detectives learned the incident began when a female went to the location to meet up with a male,” the update read. “The male became aggressive with the female and pointed a gun at her, causing the female to scream for help. It is believed [Deaton] went to help the female when the suspect… fired several shots, fatally wounding [Deaton].”
At the scene, IMPD Officer Tommy Thompson said at the time that this violence was “senseless” and “stupid.”
“So think, if you’re gonna have a firearm, what action you use that firearm for,” Thompson said. “Is it lawful, or is it unlawful? Because people are getting hurt out here, and it’s senseless and stupid. (IMPD Police Chief Chris Bailey) has talked about it. We’ve got a prosecutor who’s really pissed off about it. This is stupid. People’s lives are being taken away for stupid reasons. We have to do better.”
On Monday, IMPD’s violent crimes unit located the teen and took him into custody. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office will make the final charging decision.
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