Triple shooting kills two on southeast side

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Two people are dead, a third is in critical condition and one is in police custody following a triple shooting early Friday morning in an alley in 1700 block of State Avenue, near Minnesota Street.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department detectives say the shooting stemmed from an argument over the volume of a stereo.

Officers swarmed the scene just seconds after the shooting happened, because several of them were out on patrol in the neighborhood when they heard the shots ring out. They got on their radios and quickly located the scene, finding one person on the ground in the alley near a red Plymouth, and two more lying a few feet away.

Medics pronounced 37-year-old Mary Swift dead at the scene. A second victim, identified as 33-year-old Kelly Jinks, was rushed to a local hospital where she later died. The third victim, Ronald Kortz, II, 40, was taken to Wishard Hospital in critical but stable condition.

Police say several 911 callers and witnesses gave them the name of a possible suspect. Officers quickly located 37-year-old Edward Lay and took him downtown for questioning.

Detectives learned from witnesses that Swift and Lay were arguing over the volume of a stereo when Lay pulled out a handgun and shot Swift several times. Then a second couple tried to intervene and were also shot.

Lay was preliminarily charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and serious violent felon in possession of a firearm.

The early morning shooting left some residents concerned for their neighborhood.

"I'm just scared of somebody running through my house or shooting through my house. I'm just petrified. I'm just scared, scared of the neighborhood; all my neighbors are scared," said Vickie Bard, who lives across the street from the shooting scene.