18-year-old arrested in murder of 7-year-old in drive-by at South Bend birthday party
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WISH) — Charges of murder and attempted murder were filed Friday against an 18-year-old South Bend man in the drive-by shooting of a 7-year-old South Bend girl in August at a birthday party, authorities said.
Chrisyah Stephens was one of from 60-70 guests at an Aug. 29 birthday party outside a home in the 800 block of East Donald Street. About 7:40 p.m., multiple shots were fired from a vehicle driving by the home, police said. Stephens died that night at Memorial Hospital South Bend.
Charges were filed late Friday afternoon in St. Joseph Superior Court charging Jaheim Lamar Campbell in the death of Stephens and in the attempted murder of Sebastian Hines, authorities said in a late afternoon news conference.
Police learned Hines had attended the same party as Stephens, and witnesses implied Hines was the intended target of Campbell.
A South Bend Police Department initiative to find gang members associated with homicides or the “worst” incidents of gun violence in the community found Campbell on Thursday night and arrested him on unrelated charges. Campbell was wanted on a warrant for dangerous possession of a firearm and intimidation.
Campbell will go to court Monday to be formally charged, the prosecutor said.