INDIANAPOLIS– A suspected drug dealer is in jail accused of murder following a deadly shooting on Indy’s near northwest side.
Court records claim the fatal shooting along West 30th Street stemmed from a $20 drug deal.
Just after 8 a.m. Monday, police believe that the drug deal escalated to an argument that ended with 47-year-old Matthew Stevens fatally shot in the middle of the road.
According to the affidavit filed in the case, Stevens showed up to buy some fentanyl but got mad and slammed the home’s door.
That enraged two men who thought he was being disrespectful.
Multiple witnesses driving on 30th street saw 27-year-old Tre Dunn and another man assaulting Stevens.
When the victim tried to run away, one of the men shot Stevens in the back.
Dunn insisted he didn’t pull the trigger and was shocked by the shooting, but under Indiana law, he can still be held accountable for the murder.
“It’s called felony murder. If you knew a felony was going on and a person died in commission of that felony, you can be charged with murder just like the shooter,” said attorney Jack Crawford. “You can say I didn’t mean to or I didn’t want to. It doesn’t make any difference. You were involved in a felony and somebody died.”
That homicide led to a pair of FBI and IMPD raids connected to other violence in the same neighborhood.
So far the second male suspect has not been arrested, but members of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force who were in the neighborhood quickly followed the two men and a female driver identified as Tanesha Turner to an apartment complex at 30th and Capitol.
On Monday night IMPD and the feds searched the apartment building, where they believe Dunn shot and wounded another man in the leg over the weekend.
Police also raided a home near 30th and California where the homicide took place and arrested Turner for her role in two cases.
Knowing that this week’s homicide stemmed from drug activity came as no surprise to community leaders in the area.
“The drug activity does drive the violence. Those of us who live out here know it’s clear. The drug activity drives the violence,” said reverend Charles Harrison with the Ten Point Coalition.
The man who survived the non-fatal shooting on Capitol on Sunday told police Dunn also killed someone else in the same neighborhood a few months ago.
Police are still investigating that allegation.
Prosecutors claim Dunn had drugs on him when he was arrested, and drug possession charges have been filed. Meanwhile, charges from the murder and non-fatal shooting are still pending.
Dunn is now being held without bond.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
