Source: WISH-TV / other
INDIANAPOLIS — A court issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for an Indianapolis man criminally charged in an early January shooting outside Castleton Square Mall.
Michael Mason Jr., 16, died and a man, who has not been identified by Indianapolis police, were hurt in the shooting after 7:30 p.m. Jan. 3 at Castleton Square Mall. The shooting was at the south entrance of the mall next to Forever 21 and H&M.
Marion Superior Court 29 issued a warrant for Clyde Michael Johnson of Indianapolis. A special prosecutor out of Madison County is seeking Johnson on charges of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated battery, and battery by means of a deadly weapon.
The father of the man injured in the shooting received four gunshot wounds to his legs, his father, Eddie Smith Sr., told News 8. The father did not share his son’s name with News 8.
Smith told News 8 that his son drives a white Chevrolet Impala, which was parked next to a similar-looking car that the shooter was in. Smith described the scene to News 8 as he’d learned it from his son and additional witnesses: “From inside the car, (the shooter) just unloaded on them and then got out, shot him some more while he was down, and then began to chase after my son, and then when he caught my son, my son had to crawl into a fetal position, in a ball.”
An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department detective confirmed that information from Smith.
“There was absolutely no altercation,” Smith said. “This was basically a 16-year-old kid grabbing the door handle and trying to get into a car that’s identical to my son’s car and this kid being gunned down.”
The fatal shooting of Michael outside the mall was the second of three homicides to start 2023 in Indianapolis. All three homicides involved teen boys.
James Martin, 15, died with what police called “unintentional gunshot wounds” at an Indianapolis hospital on Jan. 2. He was the city’s first homicide of 2023. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was called at about 2:45 p.m. Jan. 2 to Community Hospital East, 1500 N. Ritter Ave. Martin was initially listed as stable upon arrival at the hospital but died later, police say. Detectives later determined Martin’s shooting happened at a house in the 2400 block of West Arlington Court. That’s southwest of the I-70 overpass for North Arlington Avenue on the east side. No arrest has been announced.
Brandon Banks, 17, was found shot to death in a car about 3:30 p.m. Jan. 4 in the 1800 block of Ingram Street. That is off of Roosevelt Drive close to I-70. Police have released few details about that case. No arrest has been announced.
