INDIANAPOLIS — A young man who was killed over Labor Day weekend on the city's northwest side had picked up the suspect just minutes before he was shot to death, a court document reveals.
Detectives learned that Da Kylen White, 19, said he was going to pick up the 19-year-old suspect, who he called by the nickname "brother," for a smoke shortly before the two met up and he was shot several times in the head, according to a probable cause affidavit.
A security camera at the apartment where the victim lived captured a photograph of his vehicle about 5:32 p.m. Sept. 4. The first call of a person shot four blocks south of that complex came in at 5:38 p.m., about six minutes later.
White was officially pronounced dead at 5:47 p.m. His death was ruled a homicide by gunshot wounds. He was shot a total of three times in the head at close range, according to the affidavit.
Officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department found White wounded inside a vehicle while they responded to the report of a person shot about 5:39 p.m. in the 4200 block of North High School Road. When they arrived, the vehicle was in drive and the engine was running.
Surveillance footage from a nearby convenience store showed two male passengers getting out of the vehicle in or near its lot. The front seat passenger then turns, thrusts his arm through the car's open window, and shoots the driver, later identified as White.
Immediately afterward,the shooter leaned into the vehicle "as if reaching for something," according to the affidavit. "It was noted Da Kyler White had a holster on his right side trouser that was empty," it states.
Investigators later identified the suspect through his social media and video from the convenience store.
The suspect was taken into custody on Wednesday as officers responded to a call for shots fired at an apartment at an address redacted in the affidavit. There, they learned the suspect had run outside mid-conversation with someone and fired several gunshots into the air. A total of 13 9mm shell casings were recovered.
As of Friday, the suspect remained incarcerated at the Marion County Jail.
Jail records show he is scheduled for a court hearing Sept. 12, but formal criminal charges have not yet been filed. WRTV will not name the suspect until charges are filed.
He is preliminarily charged with murder, robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm and criminal recklessness.
