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Charges Filed In Indianapolis Mass Shooting

PHOTO CREDIT – INDIANAPOLIS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT

Charges have been filed against a 17-year-old accused of killing four members of his family, a pregnant woman and her unborn baby.

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced Thursday that Raymond Childs III faces six counts of murder and one attempted murder charge after allegedly killing his father, stepmother, two teenage relatives and apregnant woman and her unborn baby. . Another juvenile family member was shot and injured while fleeing the house. He is expected to survive. 

Under Indiana law if you are 17-years of age and accused of murder charges must be filed in adult court. Mears said the number of people killed and the unborn child could allow for a harsher sentence. 

“Those two statutory aggravators are sufficient for us to potentially file life without parole,” Mears said. 

Investigators said Childs had been involved in a family argument before the shootings early Sunday morning. 

Mears said the prevalence of gun violence is a problem. 

“We’ve lost enough, enough families have experienced enough pain over issues that don’t need to be settled with guns,” Mears said. 

In a written statement Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Randal Taylor said the charges are welcome news.  “But our focus should remain on remembering the lives of those taken from us too soon and doing everything we can to rally around the surviving victim as he must come to terms with unimaginable loss,” he said.