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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
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
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Yahoo
Police publish video with details about Lafayette laundromat shooting
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Something about Lafayette haunted 73-year-old Louis McGlothlin, who appeared to be in declining mental health. He believed the people in Lafayette were controlling him, Lafayette police said in a debriefing video they published Thursday on YouTube. Police have closed the case. "The cancer that has been allowed to develop in the city of Lafayette," McGlothlin said in one video clip. "You have to bust these people up," he said. "They want your energy. They want to know how you did it. They haven't got the initiative to go out and develop it on their own. They want yours." It is not clear on the released video what McGlothlin was talking about. McGlothlin grew up in Lafayette and joined the U.S. Navy after high school. He and his wife settled in Lincoln, Neb. Police said his only familiarity with Lafayette was the area of Earl and South streets, and police believe he targeted the laundromat because it was an open business in the familiar area. McGlothlin entered the laundromat about 7:40 p.m. Dec. 5. He turned to his left and fired, killing 35-year-old Keith Ford and wounding 32-year-old Renee Martin. He then turned to his right and fired more shots, wounding Salvador Antonio De La Cruz Reyes, 30. Martin and Reyes survived the shooting but were hospitalized. McGlothin was in the laundromat about 20 seconds and fired seven shots. He then went outside, stood beside his pickup truck and unjammed his sidearm before killing himself with a gunshot to his head. He died on Dec. 7 in an Indianapolis hospital. Lafayette police searched McGlothlin's truck and home in Nebraska. They said they found several video recordings, some many years old, and that his delusions about people in Lafayette intensified over the years. In one video, McGothlin faced the camera, a pair of binoculars on the ledge behind his left shoulder as he referred to "the cancer that's been allowed to develop in the city of Lafayette." Police included a photo of a white piece of paper sitting on a CD that read, in printed handwriting: "The reason I have a CD is because I was going to do this in the year 2000. I have a pistol and could not control it. I sold the pistol to Nebraska Guns. Receipt is in file cabinet. After what happened to Michelle." Police published the video to be transparent about the killing and their investigation because of the high public interest in the case, Lafayette police Sgt. Shawn Verma said on the video. Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@ Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2. This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette police publish video with details about laundromat shooting
