Mike Wolanin | The Republic A Columbus police officer searches for evidence after four people were shot on the basketball court at Lincoln Park in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
A local man who pleaded guilty to four counts of Level 3 felony aggravated battery when the assault poses a substantial risk of death for shooting four people in a 2023 drive-by shooting in Lincoln Park has received a 38-year prison sentence.
Edmarius Oats, 21, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, was initially also charged with attempted murder, but that charge was dropped as part of a plea bargain agreement.
Bartholomew Superior Court Judge Jim Worton sentenced Oats to 9.5 years in prison for each shooting victim conviction and ordered the sentence to be served consecutively in the Indiana Department of Corrections.
Level 3 felonies carry a minimum of a three-year prison sentence to a maximum of 16 years, with an advisory sentence of 9 years.
Oats and his attorney Greg Long told Worton they planned to appeal. If Oats is unsuccessful in his appeal, he could be age 50 or older before he is released from prison, according to the state’s sentencing requirements.
More than 30 people were in the gallery for the sentencing hearing, some of them witnesses.
Worton warned the gallery before pronouncing sentence that any emotional outburst when he sentenced Oats could and would result in a contempt of court finding and possible jail time.
Oats and his family sat quietly as the sentence was imposed and the courtroom remained silent as Worton spoke.
The sentence came after a lengthy session of witness testimony recounting what happened on May 23, 2023, when four young people were shot during a drive-by shooting near a Lincoln Park basketball court. At the time, the park was filled with more than 100 people playing softball, basketball and visiting the Hamilton Ice Rink.
Police identified the victims as then-18-year-old Gavin Hardin, then-23-year-old Tyler Hamm and two juveniles, then ages 16 and 17. While three of the four victims were flown by Lifeline helicopter to Indianapolis hospitals, all victims survived the shooting and have recovered.
In a statement to the court, Oats said he took full responsibility for the shooting and said he was “deeply sorry,” saying the incident was fueled by alcohol and anger.
“I never meant to hurt them,” Oats said. “I’m not a bad person. I made a bad mistake and I will regret it for the rest of my life.”
In an unusual move for a sentencing, Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay received the court’s permission to play body cam video from the first responding Columbus Police Department patrol officer, Sgt. Brian Voyles, which documented his actions and what he saw and heard after being dispatched to the drive-by shooting.
The video showed Voyles driving into the park, exiting his vehicle and running to the first victim and rendering aid, asking nearby witnesses to stay at the scene. He is then told there are three other victims by the baseball diamonds and runs to that scene where he puts a tourniquet on one of the victims and is told by a witness that the shooter was Oats. Ambulance sirens are heard in the background as more CPD officers arrive and officers and witnesses attend to the wounded.
Voyles was told by witnesses that the shooter was in a gray Chrysler vehicle driving through the park.
Holden-Kay called several bystanders at the scene to the stand to testify, who became emotional at the memory of being in the park when the shooting occurred and detailing how it changed their lives afterwards.
Michelle Chandler testified she was at Lincoln Park playing ball with her son when she heard something, saying at first she did not realize what it was, but it “kicked in that it was gunshots.”
“I took off toward the kids who were falling,” she said. “I focused on the kid I could see was down. We tried to use a belt from one of the guys to put a tourniquet on — another guy took off his socks to hold pressure,” she said.
She remembers more than 100 people being in the area of the gunshots and also that the ball diamond closest to the basketball courts was not being used, meaning many more people could have been injured if people had been playing ball there.
When asked how the shooting had affected her, she said, “You look around closer, you look at your kid a little closer. You want to do the things you have always done, but you do them differently,” pausing as she began to cry. “You pay attention a little closer.”
Rachel Shelton, Columbus, was playing kickball at Lincoln Park with her husband, while her son, who was 14 at the time, was playing a pickup game of basketball at the courts nearby.
“We heard gunshots and I thought, I need to get to my son, I ran toward the basketball courts and he and his friend were running towards us,” she said.
While Shelton said she had never felt unsafe at Lincoln Park before, she told the court she nor her family no longer goes to Lincoln Park due to the shooting.
“As a mother, it’s one of the scariest things I have ever had to go through,” she said.
Columbus Police Department Detective Tony Kummer testified he received a phone call about the shooting while off-duty, and was called because Oats had been identified at the scene and Kummer lived nearby.
Kummer testified he saw Oats arrive at the residence in a gray vehicle, wearing all black and carrying a black backpack, and walked into his home. He then went to the shooting scene to interview witnesses, where he was told Oats was the shooter and the shooting occurred because Oats “had a beef over a girl.”
A probable cause affidavit states Oats was jealous of Hardin regarding a girl, which led to the drive-by shooting, according to court records.
Detectives obtained video from a camera at the scene showing the gray car pass southbound past the basketball courts without stopping and then returning to go northbound, when the gunshots were fired, and the vehicle then leaving the scene at a high rate of speed.
In addition to the victims, at least two other witnesses identified Oats as the shooter.
After Oats was arrested in his neighborhood after a multi-hour standoff at his home, on May 24, 2023, a homeowner reported a backpack, wallet, a black sweatshirt and a cell phone behind a shed. On May 25, 2023, another homeowner found clothing items, a mask and a glove on his property, leading investigators to further search the property where they found a 9 mm handgun with a bullet in the chamber and a full magazine. Investigators later matched the gun to one that Oats had in his possession in a previous incident involving police, and DNA on the weapon matched Oats.
Long called Oats’ mother to the stand, who said while she wanted to speak about her son’s character, she first wanted to extend her heartfelt apology to the four young individuals who were injured.
She said her son was raised in an upper middle class environment and that she and Oats’ father were decorated combat veterans. She described her son as an excellent athlete who loves and values his family, but also as an individual who has struggled in controlling his emotions and anger.
She acknowledged that it broke her heart that her son committed this crime and acknowledged there there would have to be consequences for that. She asked for leniency for him.
Oats’ grandmother said she cared for the boy when his parents were deployed. She said she was pleased that those who were injured were not injured worse than they were and that she understood her grandson’s actions would have consequences.
“He needs to funnel his anger into positivity. Whenever he has an issue, he needs to talk to somebody to make better decisions,” she said. “Edmarius has made a lot of mistakes and once public opinion was set, a lot of negative opinions (about him) were set.”
In statements to the court, Long also asked for leniency, saying that his client had accepted full responsibility for the shooting and had saved the victims from the trauma of having to testify by pleading guilty. He also pointed out Oats’ young age, saying the potential for rehabilitation was there.
Long said Oats did not intend to kill anybody and wants to put the incident behind him and lead a better life going forward.
Holden-Kay pointed to Oats’ lengthy juvenile criminal history in her statement before Worton, saying Oats had been placed in a juvenile treatment facility in 2019 for battery, and was again charged with battery, this time on a police officer, in 2020 and was later placed on electronic monitoring. Oats was charged with escape for cutting off the monitor and ended up serving the remainder of his sentence in the Indiana Department of Correction, which is unusual for a juvenile defendant.
“Edmarius is not new to the system,” she said. “He has had chances.”
Holden-Kay cited aggravating factors in that the shootings, saying they were crimes of violence and Oats opened fire from a moving vehicle in a park full of people where innocent bystanders could have been hit. She noted there was evidence of premeditation in this crime and that the victims, while recovered from their physical injuries, could have long-lasting psychological trauma from the incident.
The community was also impacted by the drive-by shooting, something basically unheard of in Columbus prior to this incident, resulting in parents and young people no longer feeling safe.
Before sentencing Oats, Worton reminded those in attendance that the plea bargain capped the maximum sentence at 40 years.
Worton said he did find aggravating circumstances that Oats had a history of criminal behavior including battery and escape, and that Oats had multiple jail violations reported while incarcerated for 819 days before sentencing.
Worton said the harm to victims was significant and was a crime of violence on juveniles. Another aggravating factor was that the shooting involved multiple victims shot from a vehicle in a crowded public park, he said. There was also evidence of premeditation, he said.
The mitigating factors were Oats did plead guilty, his age and mental health issues that were reported in the presentence investigation report, Worton said. He said the report indicated Oats was at a moderate risk to reoffend.
After the sentencing, Holden-Kay released a statement thanking CPD and the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office and all investigators who worked on the case and the witnesses who came forward to provide information.
The statement said, ““Today’s sentence sends a clear message: reckless acts of violence will not be tolerated in our community. The defendant carried out a drive-by shooting at a public park, turning a place where young people play basketball into a war zone. He deliberately opened fire from a moving vehicle striking four victims and leaving lasting scars on them, their loved ones and this community. This was not a momentary lapse in judgment—it was a calculated and cowardly attack fueled by anger and ego. By removing him from our streets for decades, the court has ensured that our community is safer and that the victims and their families can begin to heal knowing justice has been served.”
A sentencing date is coming up for the driver of the vehicle that Oats was in when the shooting occurred, according to court records.
Then-18-year-old Alexander Parker, of 512 Pence St., Columbus, has also entered into a plea bargain in the case.
Parker agreed to plead guilty to one Level 5 felony of assisting a criminal and in exchange, the prosecution agreed to dismiss four Level 3 felony counts of aggravated battery against him, according to court records. Parker is scheduled to be sentenced at 10 a.m. Sept. 10 in Bartholomew Superior Court 1.
