INDIANAPOLIS – Police are investigating a double shooting that left a man dead and another injured on the northeast side late Monday night.
Investigators said they believe it started with an argument between two people who knew each other, with a third person caught in the crossfire.
It’s a different kind of case. Often when investigating a homicide, the only people who know exactly what happened are the killer and the dead — and detectives must salvage the truth from what little evidence is left behind.
“It was some type of family disturbance over some type of drug situation,” IMPD Captain Don Weilhammer told reporters Monday night. “But that’s all very preliminary and subject to change.”
Just before that night’s fatal gunshot, someone else was caught in the crossfire – a neighbor with a vivid memory.
“Soon as it hit – I felt the burning,” Carlos Mitchell recalled.
Carlos Mitchell retraced his, and the other victim’s, steps.
“Eric was right here,” Mitchell said, pointing to a spot in the parking lot. “He turned around like this – pow, pow, pow – that’s when I got shot. I’m like, wait a minute, why’s he shooting at me? That’s what made me scared.”
Police said 50-year-old Eric Parks died after an argument with somebody he knew.
“He was a pretty good guy. He was a stand-up guy, a family guy. We’d sit out here and have family gatherings,” Mitchell said. “Whoever he was arguing with, I never saw the face, or none of that. I didn’t know the voice either.”
Mitchell said he was heading to the store when bullets started flying his way.
“I grabbed it out of my shirt because it was still hot,” Mitchell recalled. “It was still burning and I grabbed it out of my shirt, I threw it on the ground and I said, that’s a bullet fragment. Where’s the rest of it at? I guess it must be in my hand.”
As a bullet also grazed his left side, he ran back in the house – and came outside again to find Parks on the ground. Mitchell said the other gunshots had come from inside Parks’ house next door.
“Like I told the detectives – I said, he didn’t shoot me on purpose. He shot me on accident. He shot me in self-defense. He was trying to shoot whoever was shooting at him,” Mitchell added.
While he recovers, Mitchell said the emotional wounds will take longer to heal.
“I woke up this morning thinking about it, bad dreams. It was traumatizing,” he said.
IMPD is still asking anyone with information to reach out to homicide detectives or Crimestoppers. As of Tuesday afternoon, IMPD officials said this remains a “very active investigation,” and there are no updates in their search for a suspect.
