Latest news with #LafayetteJournal&Courier
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Baby's dad did not call 911 after boy was killed from a gunshot wound
LAFAYETTE, IN — Deonta Johnson found his 1-year-old son, Isaiah, dead in an upstairs bedroom on March 28, 2023, from a gunshot wound to the head and didn't even call 911. He called Shatia Welch, the baby's mother, and she called 911, according to testimony Wednesday, May 21, in Johnson's neglect-resulting-in-death trial. Isaiah's 5-year-old half-brother found Welch's handgun and accidentally fired it, killing Isaiah, according to prosecutors. Johnson told police he was asleep on the couch at the time. He also told the first officer on scene that the baby died from a fall, not a gunshot. But evidence and a forensic autopsy concluded Isaiah died from a gunshot wound. After Isaiah was killed, Johnson, now 29, is recorded on video apparently putting something inside the back seat area of a car parked outside of the Romney Meadows Apartment Homes. Police later found more than three-quarters of a pound of marijuana in a Ziplock bag and wrapped in a gray plastic shopping bag. Police also located a bag of about 93 pills, which tested positive at the Indiana State Police lab for being fentanyl. In addition to the neglect charges, including the charge that Johnson's alleged neglect resulted in death, prosecutors charged him with several drug charges, including dealing fentanyl and marijuana. Jurors heard several pages of text messages and Facebook messages that prosecutors say indicate that Johnson was involved in dealing narcotics and marijuana, including a message in January 2023 that indicated four or five men robbed Johnson of his money from drug sales. When court resumes in the afternoon May 21, prosecutors told the court they will play an audio recording of a phone call Johnson made from the jail, then they will rest their case. Defense attorney Robert Hodges indicated they might call one witness. Welch, who pleaded guilty in January to a lesser charge of neglect of a dependent, was brought back from an Indiana prison last week where she is serving a six-year sentence for her crime. She might testify Wednesday afternoon, if she's called. Johnson also could testify, if he chooses. This story will be updated later May 21. Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@ Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2. This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette baby's dad did not call 911 after boy was killed
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Yahoo
Lafayette police: Send us your videos, other information from Saturday's anti-Trump rally
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Lafayette police are calling on the public to provide more information about the Saturday incident that ended with a man pulling out an assault rifle near the Tippecanoe County Courthouse. The man, who has not been charged with a crime, parked and exited his vehicle on 3rd Street about noon Saturday, approaching and yelling at protesters for blocking the road, according to eyewitnesses that day and a video recorded by the Lafayette Journal & Courier. As he continued to shout, a man in a black sweatshirt drew near to the man who left his truck and allegedly head-butted him, causing his nose to bleed. 'Officers arrived on scene following reports of a verbal altercation between a protest participant and a passing motorist,' police said in a news release Sunday. 'Witnesses stated that the exchange escalated when the protester made physical contact with the motorist, who then retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and walked through the protest area.' Lafayette police determined in their initial findings 'the firearm was not knowingly and intentionally' pointed at anyone, and 'the presence of a firearm in a tense, crowded public space understandably caused alarm amongst community members.' But Nick Ault, a helper with the event, told the Journal & Courier the gun was pointed at his stomach at one point during the protest in downtown Lafayette. 'I was OK until I realized he pointed the gun at my husband. In that moment, I started panicking for a half-second,' Erika Allen, event organizer and Ault's wife, said Saturday. 'I said to (the man with the gun), 'That's my husband. Don't point the gun at him. Please put it down.' When the police officer told me he didn't believe me, that's when I got really upset.' The man was initially detained but was released after Lafayette police determined that he did not, that he instead retrieved the gun in self-defense. On Sunday, during continuing unrest on social media sites, Lafayette police released the statement saying they are continuing to review video and other evidence of the event. 'The investigation remains ongoing, and LPD urges individuals who directly witnessed the incident or have firsthand information to come forward,' the release said. Meanwhile, an organizer of Saturday's rally, Stacy Bogan, created a gofundme site to raise money for legal fees for the man police arrested for head-butting the man with the gun. Jeremy Marks, 36, was arrested on a preliminary battery charge and bonded out of the Tippecanoe County Jail. "Help Jeremy Cover Legal Fees" has raise $9,400 as of 7 p.m. Sunday. Readers can provide videos to the Lafayette police at Estimates were that nearly 1,000 people showed up Saturday at the Tippecanoe County Courthouse as part of the national "Hands Off! Mass Mobilization" movement involving cities around the country. This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette police: Send us videos, info from Saturday's anti-Trump rally
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Yahoo
State police arrest Indy man suspected of shooting at a car on I-65
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — White County dispatchers received a 911 call about 10 p.m. Monday from a southbound driver on Interstate 65 who reported someone in a Chevy Equinox shot at him near the 193-mile marker, according to an Indiana State Police news release. Troopers stopped a matching Chevy a short time after the call. Their investigation led them to believe the driver — George Collins, 43, of Indianapolis — fired at least one shot at the victim's car, hitting it in the windshield, police said. The victim was not injured, police said. The Chevy was stolen, and troopers found a handgun inside the car, police said. Troopers jailed Collins on suspicion of criminal recklessness with a firearm, possession of stolen property and pointing a firearm, police said. Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@ Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2. This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: State police suspect Indy man shot at a car on I-65 near Lafayette
USA Today
12-03-2025
- USA Today
'Hero' finds woman trapped in crashed car 6 days after she was reported missing, officials say
'Hero' finds woman trapped in crashed car 6 days after she was reported missing, officials say Six days. That's how long 41-year old Brieonna Cassell was missing before she was found, trapped inside her wrecked vehicle on the side of a northwest Indiana roadway on Tuesday, the Newton County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook statement. The only occupant in the vehicle, Cassell was conscious and able to speak when she was found by a man who noticed her vehicle off the roadway while operating equipment nearby. "First and foremost, we owe immense gratitude to Johnny Martinez, who spotted the car in the ditch," Newton County Sheriff Shannon Cothran in a Facebook post. "In my book, Mr. Martinez is a hero, and we can never thank him enough for his keen eye and quick action." Upon discovering Cassell, Martinez called his supervisor, who happens to be the chief of the nearby Morocco Fire Department. Cassell had fallen asleep behind the wheel on March 5, when her car veered off the road and landed in a ditch, Cothran told the Lafayette Journal & Courier, a part of the USA TODAY Network. Sustaining two compound fractures in both of her legs and pinned inside the vehicle, Cassell could do little more than yell for help, which couldn't be heard by motorists, as Cassell and her vehicle were too far down from the road. "She was using a sweatshirt to dip into the creek and suck the water out of the sweatshirt," Cothran told the Lafayette Journal & Courier. Cassell, who is from Wheatfield, Indiana, was transported to a Chicago hospital and, as of Wednesday, was in stable condition, the Newton County Sheriff's Office shared to Facebook, on behalf of Cassell's mother, Kim Brown. Cassell is scheduled for a Wednesday surgery, but there are concerns about the conditions of her legs, which were badly injured in the car wreck. Her outlook, the sheriff's office reported, is good but, "it will be a long road to recovery." Cassell was found near the Newton County Landfill, authorities said, which is roughly 90 miles southeast of Chicago. On Tuesday, a GoFundMe was created to raise money for Cassell's medical recovery. As of Wednesday afternoon, the GoFundMe, with a goal of $15,000, had raised $3,460. Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@
