FRANKLIN, Ind. (WRTV) -- Charges were filed Friday against two 16-year-old boys in connection to a shooting a week earlier at a Greenwood Catholic church festival, the Johnson County prosecutor said Friday evening.
Greenwood Police Department was called just after 8:50 p.m. June 5 to the festival at Our Lady of the Greenwood Catholic Church and School, which sits northeast of the roundabout at Smith Valley Road and South Meridian Street in Greenwood.
A report made to Johnson County Juvenile Probation on the shooting said a juvenile male suffered a gunshot wound to the foot and taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for treatment. Another patron of the festival reported pain from the hot bullet, which found at the scene.
The report said an Indiana State Police master trooper had reported shots fired at the festival, which was crowded with people enjoying carnival rides, games and food vendors. June 5 was the first day of the-three day festival.
Investigators found four 9mm Luger shell casings on the crosswalk at Smith Valley Road and Meridian Street. Two bullet impacts were found in a fence bordering the carnival grounds, directly behind two children’s carousels that were in operation with several children aboard.
The prosecutor said in a Friday news release that Jayden Collins was charged in adult court with the low-level felony of dangerous possession of a firearm. Collins is accused of providing a firearm to another child that he knew was not eligible to buy or receive a gun from a dealer.
Prosecutor Lance Hamner said in the release, "This charge is filed directly into adult court because the statute exempts the requirement that this charge commence in Juvenile Court as is required with most other."
Hamner said he's also filed charges against the other 16-year-old in juvenile court, and those charges are expected to be moved to an adult court.
The prosecutor said the other 16-year-old, who News 8 is not naming until he's waived into adult court, could face felony charges of attempted armed robbery with a deadly weapon, criminal recklessness pointing a firearm, intimidation, and unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle in charged as an adult.
The 16-year-old charged in juvenile court told police that he and three other people had traveled to the festival, and, while there, were being followed by a large group of 20 to 30 males he knew from school and sports, with whom he had “beef.” He said that led to a verbal confrontation with the males, who were taunting him, and he retrieved the firearm from his waistband, fired it into the air once, then began running away. He said he also discharged the firearm another time in the direction of the ground to scare the males.
