Update: When Gwyn appeared in court on Tuesday, the amount of his bond was increased to $100,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed.

The suspect in a weekend shooting in Linton, 21-year-old Elijiah David Scott Gwyn, was reported to have been packing a bag when Linton Police Officer Debbie McDonald showed up at the home where he was living and took him into custody.

Details about the shooting incident have emerged from numerous interviews conducted by Indiana State Police Detective Stacy Brown who was called in at 5:20 a.m. Sunday to assist in the investigation.

In a probable cause affidavit filed in Greene Superior Court, Brown recounted the information gathered during those interviews.

The story starts at the Palace Bar. LPD Officer McDonald was on duty and was dispatched to a fight at the Palace. She talked to a group of people, including the shooting victim, but found no evidence of criminal behavior so she left the area. She was later dispatched to the hospital after the shooting occurred.

When officers responded to the call from Greene County General Hospital reporting they were treating the victim of a shooting, Officer McDonald was met by a woman who told her Eli Gwyn had shot Kevin Misner.

Officer McDonald was on it. While other officers talked to the victim and others at the hospital to gather initial information, McDonald left and drove to a residence in Linton where she knew Gwyn was living.

McDonald reported Gwyn lived with his 76-year-old grandmother so she parked across the street from the home and called the grandmother, found out Gwyn was there, and asked to speak to him.

Gwyn came out of the house and was taken into custody by Officer McDonald. Gwyn was transported to the Linton Police Department.

When McDonald spoke to the grandmother after Gwyn was in custody, she was told Gwyn had been in his room packing a bag right before McDonald arrived.

Detective Brown identified the victim in this case as Kevin Misner, 23, Linton.  

Jasonville Police Officer Andrew Duguay had responded to assist the LPD and he talked to Misner at the hospital. At that time, the victim said he had been shot in the arm by his best friend but he declined to identify this best friend as Gwyn. He later identified Gwyn as the shooter when interviewed by Det. Brown.  

Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy Davis Aerne also responded to assist and he talked to a 25-year-old woman who lives with the victim who said she heard yelling and that Gwyn had a fired a shot through glass on a door then pointed the gun at the victim and fired.

When Detective Brown tried to interview Gwyn at the Linton Police Department, offering him a chance to tell his side of the story, Gwyn said the last time he talked without an attorney, he had incriminated himself so he was not going to talk. He said he wanted a lawyer.

That same morning, a search warrant for Gwyn’s residence was requested and approved. When Det. Brown executed the warrant at 11:52 a.m. Sunday, he seized a black .40 caliber Taurus semi-automatic handgun which was the weapon believed to have been used in the shooting.

The victim, Kevin Misner, was first taken to Greene County General via private vehicle, then transported to Regional Hospital in Terre Haute for treatment of a gunshot wound to his right arm.

Det. Brown interviewed Misner after he was released from Regional.

He also conducted interviews with the woman who lived with Misner; another woman who just happened to be present during the shooting – she was a friend of Misner’s roommate and had stopped there to visit with the roommate; and Kalib White, 22, Linton, who was present and allegedly involved in an altercation with Gwyn just prior to the shooting.

In Det. Brown’s narrative about these interviews, he writes that Misner said he’d known Gwyn for years, considered him a good friend, and that they’d been in many fist fights before but this was the first time Gwyn tried to shoot him.

Misner said he, Gwyn and White had been out drinking at the Palace Bar then walked back to Misner’s house at 249 G Street NE where Gwyn got into a verbal argument with White that turned into a physical fight.

White confirmed the three had been drinking at the Palace with no issues while they were at the bar. But Gwyn started an argument at Misner’s house that escalated. White was reported to say Gwyn pushed him then hit him on the side of the head and White struck back.

White said when he walked toward another room, Gwyn pulled out a handgun and pointed it at him.

The roommate’s friend said Gwyn and White were in a verbal argument when she arrived. She went into another room, a bathroom near the back door, and when she came out, Gwyn was there with his back to her and a gun in his hand. She said Misner was facing Gwyn telling him to put the gun down. She said Gwyn then fired the handgun with it pointed in the direction of White in the living room. When the gun discharged, the recoil caused Gwyn’s hand to fly back and the woman was struck in the right eye by the gun and Gwyn’s hand. Det. Brown said the woman had a bruise under her right eye.

Misner said after Gwyn and White were separated, Gwyn was very upset and broke Misner’s coffee table for no reason. Misner said he warned Gwyn to stop but Gwyn threw something at Misner then picked up a chair and threw it against the wall.

Misner said he grabbed Gwyn and got him on the ground and grabbed him by the throat and was going to hit him in the face when something knocked him back and spun him around – it took a moment for him to realize Gwyn had shot him in the arm.

At that point, Gwyn was able to get up and he ran out the door.

The roommate’s friend said as the two men were wrestling, she was able to get around them and ran out the front door to her car. She said she heard a total of three gunshots during this incident.

The shooting occurred sometime before 4 a.m. Sunday. The ISP was called in around 5 a.m..

In the initial information released by the Indiana State Police and reported by most media outlets, Gwyn was listed as being from Linton. He may have been living in Linton, but when Gwyn was booked in to the Greene County Jail, the official jail record shows he has a home address in rural Worthington. Court records also show Gwyn with the same home address in rural Worthington.

Based on information from Detective Brown’s investigation, Greene County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Keven McIntosh filed a criminal case against Gwyn on Monday afternoon.

Charges were approved by Greene Superior Judge Dena Martin late Monday and a time scheduled on the court’s docket for Gwyn’s initial hearing on Tuesday morning to charge him with:

• Count 1. Aggravated battery – assault posed a substantial risk of death, a Level 3 felony
• Count 2. Battery resulting in bodily injury, a Level 5 felony
• Count 3. Carrying a handgun without a license – defendant has a prior conviction for carrying a handgun without a license, a Level 5 felony
• Count 4. Pointing a firearm at another person, a Level 6 felony
• Count 5. Pointing a firearm at another person, a Level 6 felony
• Count 6. Criminal recklessness – defendant shoots a firearm into a building, a Level 5 felony
• Count 7. Criminal recklessness – defendant shoots a firearm into a building, a Level 5 felony
• Count 8. Criminal recklessness – defendant shoots a firearm into a building, a Level 5 felony
• Count 9. Criminal recklessness – defendant shoots a firearm into a building, a Level 5 felony

As of Tuesday morning, Gwyn remained in custody in the Greene County Jail where he’s being held on a bond of $83,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. It would take $8,300 cash for him to be released.

Update: When Gwyn appeared in court on Tuesday, the amount of his bond was increased to $100,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed.

  

Click here to find previous stories about this incident and Elijiah Gwyn.