16-year-old boy charged as adult in murder of another 16-year-old
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A 16-year-old Indianapolis boy has been charged as an adult with murder and criminal recklessness in the shooting death of another 16-year-old who was pulled from a burning car Sunday.
Isaiha Funez was formally charged Wednesday in Marion Superior Court, Criminal Division 3, with killing Xavier Weir. Funez also faces two counts of criminal recklessness in the shooting of a firearm into a car with up to three other people inside it.
Beech Grove police said Weir was pulled by three police officers from a beige 2000 Mitsubishi Galant car on fire in a ditch near Emerson Avenue and I-465 around 3 a.m. Sunday. Weir had one gunshot wound that went through his right shoulder, according to court documents, and another gunshot wound in his brain’s frontal lobe. A neurosurgeon at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital determined the wound to the brain was not survivable, and Weir was put on life support. He died on Monday afternoon at the hospital, according to the Marion County Coroner’s Office.
Beech Grove police said two other people in the car were taken to a hospital. Those victims told police the vehicle they were riding in was shot at several times before it ended up in the ditch.
Crime scene investigators recovered a Grand Power P40 .40 S&W semi-automatic pistol along with two .40 caliber shell casings, 11 9mm shell casings and metal bullet fragment at the crime scene, court documents said.
Beech Grove police secured surveillance video of the incident that showed two people exiting the car and pointing weapons at the car. Court documents said, “The two subjects moved toward the Mitsubishi Gallant and immediately start firing several shots at the Mitsubishi Gallant before it slowly rolls into the ditch. No shots are ever fired from the Gallant towards the suspects. The shooting appears totally unprovoked. It appears that one of the suspects is shot, or shoots himself in the leg while retreating to the suspect vehicle. The two suspects then get into the suspect vehicle and leave.”
After the shooting, Funez went to Franciscan Health Hospital on the south side with a gunshot wound to the leg. He was later moved to Eskenazi Hospital.
At Eskenazi, Funez told a Beech Grove police officer that Weir had been threatening him on Snapchat. “Funez said Weir was posting pictures of guns and saying there was price on his head. Funez said he had no problem with Weir and did not know why Weir was threatening him,” court documents said.
Funez ultimately confessed to the police officer that he was one of the suspects caught on the surveillance video firing shots at the Mitsubishi Gallant that Weir was shot in. Funez also told police the shooting had begun after Weir allegedly robbed Funez’s brother of a phone and other items.
Funez’s jury trial was set for June 17-18.
