INDIANAPOLIS -- The two suspects accused of shooting into an Indianapolis house last month and killing a 1-year-old girl confessed to the crime, according to preliminary court documents released Thursday.
In the preliminary probable cause document, both Darrin Banks, 27, and Brian Palmer, 29, admitted to firing several rounds into a house in the 3500 block of Wittfield Avenue on March 29.
Shortly before 2 a.m. on the 29th, officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department responded to the house to find one adult and one child shot.
Malaysia Robson, age 1, was killed in the shooting. Robson's 19-year-old aunt, Anna Fox, was also hit. Police say eight to 10 people were inside the home at the time, the majority of which were teenagers.
Investigators found about 19 spent .223 casings on the street in front of the house.
According to the document, witnesses said the shooting was related to a family dispute that started on social media, and escalated to a fight at an apartment complex before it culminated with the incident on Wittfield Avenue.
A person close to both families told police they were told that Banks and Palmer were the ones involved in the shooting, according to the probable cause. On Tuesday, IMPD surveillance units followed Banks and Palmer as they drove around Indy's east side in Palmer's vehicle. When they failed to stop at a stop sign, IMPD initiated a traffic stop, where several officers noticed a "AR-15 type rifle" in the front seat in plain view, according to the document.
Two AR-15-style rifles were found in Palmer's vehicle through a search warrant. When police interviewed Banks and Palmer separately, both said they were upset about the previous fight, which resulted in an injury to Banks' pregnant sister. They both admitted, according to the probable cause, to firing at the house, knowing that several people were inside.
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Palmer's mother, Renee Sloan, said Wednesday that both men were home playing video games at the time of the shooting.
"The whole community is talking about Darrin Banks and Brian Palmer," Sloan said. "Those are their names. They're not murderers. They're human beings and they have names. They did not do this. That is not in their demeanor. That is not how they work. That is not what they do. I want to have a voice for them. Everyone else has a voice but those two. I want people to know what type of people they are."
