A third teenager is facing a murder charge in connection with the deadly shooting on Madison Avenue in Evansville, according to a police report. The charge is an allegation and has not been proven in court.
Evansville police arrested 16-year-old D'Narius Collins after investigators say he admitted his involvement in the Oct. 11 shooting death of 17-year-old James Brown Jr.
Officers were dispatched to Madison Avenue near Bedford Avenue for a report of gunshots around 10:50 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11. They found Brown lying in the street with a gunshot wound to the head, and he died at the scene.
According to the police report, a group had gathered at a nearby home for a birthday party, and several people stepped outside to head to a corner store when gunfire erupted from an alley east of the home. Surveillance video showed two people in hooded sweatshirts getting out of a silver car, pacing an alley and raising their hands in a shooting motion toward the crowd before running away.
Police previously arrested 18-year-old Keaton Howard in Union County, Kentucky, identifying him through surveillance footage and a YouTube rap video posted days after the shooting. On Oct. 22, investigators arrested a second teenager, 17-year-old Ayden Simms, after locating the car seen on video.
According to the police report, Collins told an acquaintance that he planned the shooting with Simms and Howard and fired a revolver at Brown that night, and that person later flagged down an officer to report the conversation. Police say the shooting stemmed from an ongoing feud between two local groups. Collins was booked into the Vanderburgh County Jail on a murder charge and is held without bond, according to jail records cited in the report.
