An argument between male teenagers in a movie theater in the Castleton Square Mall in north Indianapolis apparently escalated into an exchange of gunshots and the death of a 13-year-old boy. Metropolitan Police detectives are currently searching for the person who allegedly committed the violent crime in the parking lot of a Long John Silver’s restaurant across the street from the mall on Sept. 9.
The victim had just begun 8th grade at Belzer Middle School. According to witnesses, the boy was shot to death in the restaurant parking lot at about 10:00 p.m. Witnesses told police that a fight allegedly erupted in a movie theater in the shopping mall and that the fight eventually spilled into the street. Once the disputants reached the open air, gunfire was heard. Police are still trying to determine a motive for the murder and identify potential suspects. They are currently reviewing images from the mall’s surveillance camera system in an effort to find images of the initial fight and the shooting.
The nearby community has been severely shaken by the shooting because of both the victim’s age and the location of the violent crime, across the street from the Castleton Square Mall, which describes itself as the largest shopping mall in Indiana. The Castleton Square Mall was the scene of other teen disturbances in 2015 and 2016. Large groups of teens were evacuated from the mall before order could be restored. Gunfire was allegedly heard during both disturbances. Police have not identified any connection between those incidents and the recent shooting.
Any person who is arrested and charged with murder is entitled to be presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. An experienced criminal defense attorney may provide a helpful evaluation of the evidence and law in a case similar to this one.
Source: WTHR-TV, “13-year-old shot and killed near Castleton Mall identified,” Jennie Runevitch, Sept. 13, 2017
