Man, 41, charged with reckless homicide in January killing on Indy's north side
INDIANAPOLIS — He didn’t mean to shoot the man approaching him as he sat inside his vehicle parked at his home on Indy’s north side, Ladrelle Bryant told police.
“I was trying to shoot a warning shot to scare him away,” the homeowner told responding officers in court records. “I wasn’t trying to ... kill that dude."
Bryant, 41, is now facing a reckless homicide charge in the deadly shooting that took place just outside his detached garage in the 3300 block of North Kenwood Avenue.
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He was arrested Tuesday in the Jan. 18 killing of 44-year-old Alfred Wombles. Police found Wombles suffering from gunshot injuries after Bryant called 911.
Wombles was transported to a hospital, where he died.
An attorney for Bryant was not listed in online court records before publication of this article.
Court records: Wombles was looking for trash cans before deadly shooting
After his death, police interviewed a woman who was with Wombles the morning of the shooting.
The woman and Wombles were homeless and searched trash cans throughout the city to survive, she told police in a probable cause affidavit for Bryant’s arrest.
The pair spotted some trash cans that were full near Bryant's open garage. The woman was behind Wombles as he approached and stopped before entering the open garage.
She heard gunfire and Wombles said he was shot before falling to the ground, the woman told police in the affidavit.
Shooting of Alfred Wombles captured by surveillance camera
Video from a nearby surveillance camera showed Bryant leaving his garage in a Kia Carnival not long before the shooting. He went to drop his child off at their bus stop that morning, Bryant later told police in the affidavit.
He sat in his vehicle for a few minutes after he returned home, then opened his garage and backed the vehicle inside, the video showed.
About one minute later Wombles and the woman he was with were seen in the video approaching the garage.
Wombles stopped at the entrance of the garage facing the front driver's side of Bryant’s vehicle then he was shot and fell to the ground in the video.
After the shooting, Bryant called 911 and was performing CPR on Wombles when officers and medics arrived, according to the affidavit.
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“I didn’t know if he was trying to rob me or break in,” Bryant told police in a statement captured by the officer’s body camera.
That was when Bryant also stated that he didn’t mean to shoot Wombles and was trying to fire a warning shot. In an interview with detectives away from the scene, Bryant stated his garage had been burglarized twice about a month before the shooting.
Bryant stated he was looking at his phone with his firearm in his lap when Wombles approached, then he exited his car and fired one shot.
He also stated Wombles hands were raised and he believed Wombles was holding a gun or knife as he approached the garage, according to the affidavit.
Police found a screwdriver in Wombles’ pocket, but there is no mention in court records of any weapons being found on or near Wombles after the shooting.
A warrant for Bryant’s arrest was issued on May 13, then Bryant turned himself in at the Community Justice Center on Tuesday, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
An initial hearing in Bryant’s case is set for Thursday.
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis crime: Man charged in January killing
