Stringer
GREENWOOD — Two teens have been implicated in a conspiracy to rob and murder an Indianapolis man during an alleged drug deal in Greenwood.
Quincy D. Stringer Jr., 17, of Greenwood, is charged with murder, and his case has been waived to adult court. A 15-year-old female juvenile may also be charged, but prosecutors cannot disclose more information at this time. Police suspect the teens of being involved in the fatal shooting of Ethan J. David, 18, on Sunday.
The shooting occurred in the 2000 block of Liberty Way Drive in the city’s Central Park neighborhood at 6:39 p.m. Sunday. This neighborhood is located immediately west of Grassy Creek Elementary School.
Charges filed Thursday allege that Stringer and the juvenile female conspired to rob David during a drug deal. Stringer is accused of fatally shooting David.
When Greenwood police arrived at the crime scene, they found David dead in the driver’s seat of a silver sedan. The car had been running and the driver’s door had been left open, according to the probable cause affidavit filed in Johnson Superior Court 3.
David’s leg appeared to be out of the car and he was wearing a black face mask. He died from a single gunshot wound to the forehead, the affidavit said.
Witnesses reported seeing two people running from the car after hearing a gunshot. One witness reported they were wearing ski masks, the affidavit shows.
The two suspects fled the scene heading west. A police K9 was called to the scene to track them, but lost their scent after a while, the affidavit shows.
Inside David’s car, police say they found a backpack that had packaged raw marijuana, candy bars with psilocybin, THC cartridges, a broken cell phone, drug paraphernalia and empty plastic bags. Psilocybin is a compound found in“magic mushrooms,” a controlled substance.
Detectives also found a working cell phone belonging to David. They found a chat with a user known as “d” on Telegram, a social messaging application.
Although the report only listed what “d” said, the messages showed a discussion about a meeting with “d” on Sunday. Messages sent between 6:28 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday show that “d” was trying to convince David that the meeting was not a “set up,” the affidavit shows.
The last message from “d” was sent at 6:33 p.m. — minutes before the shooting. The message read, “We at da Park foe.”
David had also called the number through Telegram. Records show that he had two cash transfers on Cash App with a person referred to as “D.D.” in court documents. Their address was a little more than a quarter mile away from where the shooting happened, and they are referenced as the female 15-year-old suspect in the court documents.
On Monday, detectives learned information from another juvenile who was involved in conversations with the two suspects: Stringer and D.D.
The third juvenile was with D.D. and Stringer at Stringer’s home when they overheard Stringer and D.D. allegedly making plans to rob their “plug,” slang for a narcotics dealer. They reportedly referred to the dealer as “Eli” or “Ethan,” according to the affidavit.
D.D. and Stringer reportedly made plans to be at their neighborhood park when the dealer would arrive. They’d ask the dealer about what he was selling, and after they got an answer, they would “hold” the dealer and steal the drugs, the affidavit shows.
The third juvenile did not want to be part of the plan, and D.D. and Stringer reportedly made fun of the juvenile for not wanting to take part in the robbery, according to the affidavit.
While the third juvenile did not see Stringer with a firearm, they knew he owned a black handgun with hollow point bullets. At around 6 p.m. Sunday, the trio left the home through the back door to avoid a camera at the front door seeing them leave. The third juvenile went home, while D.D. and Stringer headed east, the affidavit shows.
On Tuesday, detectives learned Stringer planned to mail the gun believed to be involved in the shooting to an address in Kentucky. Because of this plan, police contacted Clark-Pleasant schools, where Stringer is a student, to ask them to let students out early for the day and to have Clark-Pleasant Police detain both Stringer and D.D. They were later taken to the Greenwood Police Department, the affidavit shows.
During a search of Stringer’s home, police found a plastic bag that had a Taurus 9mm handgun, a black Diamondback Firearms 9mm handgun, an ammunition box branded as Hornaday 9mm Luger, and a clear plastic baggy of marijuana. Both guns magazines were loaded, according to the affidavit.
The Taurus handgun matched a gun police say belonged to David. The marijuana found was consistent with what was found in the backpack in David’s vehicle, the affidavit says.
D.D. told detectives, who were present with one of her parents, that Stringer said he wanted to rob “E.J.”, a.k.a. David, of his marijuana. Stringer had allegedly asked her to set up a deal with him, and a deal was set at Central Park, the affidavit shows.
The plan was to rob David when he arrived. D.D. told police she did not see Stringer carrying a gun Sunday night, but knew he had carried one before. Once David arrived at the park, the duo approached his car and D.D. saw Stringer be handed marijuana, according to the affidavit.
Stringer allegedly told D.D. to get back. She said she was a block away when she heard a gunshot. She then ran to Stringer’s home, and he later came back as well, the affidavit says.
D.D. did not visually observe the shooting and did not know David would be shot, according to the affidavit. The next day, Stringer reportedly sent her a message saying something along the lines of “I shot.”
Stringer and one of his parents declined to speak to police about the incident, the affidavit says.
Another Whiteland Community High School student told police that on Monday they thought Stringer might be involved in the shooting. He had reportedly denied involvement, according to the affidavit.
Stringer had also reportedly video-called the student while crying in the hours after the shooting, saying he “didn’t know what had just happened.” The student didn’t want to be involved, so they hung up the phone, the affidavit shows.
In a second video call on Monday, the student took screenshots of Stringer holding both guns found at his home. The student said one of the guns belonged to David, according to the affidavit.
D.D. was also reportedly on the video call and was in the same room as Stringer.
He told the student that he had to clean David’s gun off because it was covered in blood. He planned to get rid of it by breaking it completely down, according to the affidavit.
