Man charged with homicide in May shooting at Castleton apartments
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A 21-year-old Indianapolis man was taken into custody Monday on an arrest warrant charging him with the May reckless homicide of a 19-year-old man, police and court records say.
Austin Bunn, 19, was placed on life support and died a few hours after the May 8 nighttime shooting in the 7800 block of Carlton Arms Drive at the Lake Castleton Apartment Homes. That’s on the city’s northeast side in the Castleton area.
The Marion County Coroner’s Office had identified Bunn but not shared his cause of death. Court documents say an autopsy determined Bunn died in a homicide from a gunshot to the head.
Bunn had worked for the Indiana Department of Correction’s Pendleton Correctional Facility as an intelligence analyst.
An arrest warrant for Eric Salinas was issued Friday in Marion Superior Court 21. His bond was set at $15,000. He remained jailed Monday afternoon but not Monday night, online records showed.
Salinas told investigators at the crime scene that he worked for the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, according to court documents. Investigators later learned he had worked at the county jail as an intake officer, occasionally had transported prisoners, and had received firearms training.
News 8 reached out to the sheriff’s office Monday but did not immediately receive a response.
Bunn and Salinas had been friends for a couple of years and roommates for a year or so, according to people who talked with investigators. Salinas’ girlfriend also lived with the two men at the apartment, court records show.
Court documents indicated that Salinas had told investigators differing stories about how the shooting happened. One involved the Glock 17 Gen5 being shot while Salinas was cleaning Bunn’s gun and thinking no bullets were inside. Another story had Salinas firing the pistol from under a bed’s cover and unable to see where Bunn was standing.
Anyone with information has been asked to contact IMPD Detective Anthony Johnson at 317-327-3475 or e-mail him at anthony.johnson@indy.gov.
