Jury finds 19-year-old guilty of uncle’s murder in 2020 in Beech Grove apartment
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Charged as an adult when he was 16 years old, a Beech Grove man was found guilty in a jury trial of murdering his uncle, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office says.
Police responded to a report of a person shot around 10:20 a.m. Feb. 16, 2020, in the 100 block of Diplomat Court. That’s at the Beech Meadow Apartments near Beech Grove High School.
Beech Grove Police Department officers said Devon Ford, 28, died of gunshot wounds in his apartment bedroom.
Police found Sylvester Ford near the crime scene and followed him to the apartment, the prosecutor’s office says. He’s now 19 years old, jail records show.
According to family members, Sylvester told conflicting stories. In one, he said he saw five guys who were wearing masks storm up to the apartment before he heard several shots. Sylvester also told other family members he saw three men walk into the apartment before he heard shots, according to court documents.
After the shooting, prosecutors say, Sylvester left the scene to dispose of the gun and magazines. Officers later found a backpack with the items in a dumpster of a fast-food restaurant.
Sylvester later told investigators he’d been living with his uncle for a short time before the shooting happened, and Sylvester had been upset with his uncle in the days before the shooting. Sylvester later told investigators that he shot his uncle three times, stating, “I just kept going because I did not know how to stop.”
The jury’s decision came after a three-day trial. A sentencing hearing was set for 2 p.m. March 1 in Marion Superior Court 28.
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