Fields, Carroll fled after shooting

Aug. 14—The two men charged in the fatal shooting of a man on West Seventh Street are believed to have fled the state after the shooting, only to return later in a stolen vehicle.

John Leak Jr. was fatally shot on June 13 near Greentree Apartments. The Daviess County Grand Jury indicted Damian M. Fields, 27, of Livermore and Derrick Carroll, 29, of the 1600 block of Mayo Street with murder in Leak's death.

Officers responding to a vehicle wreck on West Seventh Street found Leak in the car with a gunshot wound to the torso. Leak was pronounced dead at Owensboro Health.

An affidavit for a search warrant by OPD Detective Chad Gilbert says officers who were working a report of a gunshot at the same time the wreck was reported recovered video of the shooting.

The video shows Leak pulling into a driveway at Seventh and Plum streets, followed by a silver Chevrolet Impala. The Impala stops and two men exit. Leak begins to back up and the shooting occurs before Leak leaves the scene, Gilbert wrote.

The video, which was released to the public, resulted in "numerous tips (coming) to the Owensboro Police Department identifying Damian Fields as a possible suspect," along with information that Fields was known to drive a silver Impala. The affidavit says Detective J.D. Faith located Fields' mother, who said she owns a silver Impala.

A search for the Impala through the National Crime Information Center resulted in a hit out of Richland County, Illinois, where the Impala had been found wrecked and abandoned on June 14, the day after the shooting.

Inside the vehicle, the Richland County Sheriff's Office found a loaded .40 caliber handgun, additional ammunition and items consistent with drug trafficking, such as a scale with residue and baggies, an affidavit from Detective Brandon Sims says.

Detective J.D. Faith's affidavit says Richland County deputies received a call of two men, one of whom matched Carroll's description, looking into businesses.

A vehicle was reported stolen out of Richland County. That vehicle was located in Livermore by McLean County sheriff's deputies a few blocks from Fields' home, Faith says in his affidavit.

Fields was arrested on June 21 in Owensboro on charges unrelated to the shooting. When Carroll was arrested in Limestone County, Alabama, after a police chase, he was carrying a 9-millimeter handgun. Leak was shot with a 9 mm, Faith's affidavit says.

Fields is in the Daviess County Detention Center and is scheduled to make his first court appearance on the charges on Aug. 30. Carroll is awaiting extradition from Limestone County and is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 18.

James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse