EVANSVILLE — The police arrested one of two men who are believed to have been involved in a Sunday morning shootout that left three people, including a juvenile, injured in Evansville.
Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office records identified the arrested man as 32-year-old Luther King Lawton Jr., who was booked into the jail Sunday evening. He faces three preliminary felony charges, and a judge was scheduled to conduct a probable cause hearing in his case Monday afternoon.
Lawton Jr.'s arrest comes after a chaotic Saturday evening and Sunday morning on Evansville's East Side, where police say large crowds had gathered at several locations − leading to fights − and eventually a "volley" of gunfire that injured a man, woman and a juvenile.
According to Lawton Jr.'s arrest affidavit, he is accused of injuring a woman after he "recklessly" opened fire in the direction of an attacker who is suspected of having shot the juvenile and the man at an East Side gas station just before 3:53 a.m. Sunday.
Lawton Jr., who is classified as a serious violent felon due to a 2016 conviction in federal court for dealing cocaine, is barred from owning a firearm in Indiana, the police said.
What we know about the shooting
Public court records identified the yet-to-be-apprehended attacker who allegedly shot the man and the juvenile as 31-year-old Otis James Rankin, though a department spokeswoman declined to publicly name him during a phone call with the Courier & Press Monday morning.
According to EPD Detective Michael Beitler, who signed Lawton Jr.'s arrest affidavit, officers located the juvenile victim − who reportedly suffered a gunshot wound to his head − and the bystander Lawton Jr. allegedly shot, at the On The Fly gas station and convenience store, located at 1601 S. Green River Road.
The woman bore a gunshot wound to her left leg, according to the EPD. A third victim later presented at an Evansville hospital with a gunshot wound to his chest, police records state. Rankin is suspected of having shot him at the gas station, too.
The man and woman were in stable condition, according to the police, while the juvenile was transported to a hospital outside of Evansville and was in "serious condition." Sgt. Trudy Day, the EPD's spokeswoman, said the juvenile was still undergoing treatment on Monday.
Video surveillance footage obtained from On The Fly, according to Lawton Jr.'s arrest affidavit, showed Rankin "firing a black handgun three times in the direction of [the juvenile] and [the adult male]."
Lawton Jr., meanwhile, was observed "firing multiple rounds from a black handgun in the direction of Rankin and a crowd of people," Beitler wrote. One of the rounds allegedly struck the woman.
It was not immediately clear if Rankin suffered a wound during the exchange of gunfire; detectives said he left the gas station in a Chevrolet Malibu sedan, and he is described in court records as "a heavy-set, light-complected black male with a long beard."
Monday afternoon, a Vanderburgh County judge is scheduled to determine if there is probable cause to charge Lawton Jr. with three felony offenses:
- Battery committed with a deadly weapon
- Criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon
- Possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon
Day told the Courier & Press there were "several disturbances" and "some fighting" at multiple locations prior to the Sunday morning shooting, including at Washington Square Mall. Those altercations, which elicited police responses, could bear some connection to the shooting, Day said.
Suspected attacker has a history of firearm offenses, records show
As of publication time, Rankin is still believed to be at large. Though Day declined to publicly identify him during a phone call on Monday (the Courier & Press sourced Rankin's name and the allegations against him via public court records), she told a reporter, "He must know we're looking for him."
Since 2012, Rankin has incurred criminal convictions for firearm-related offenses, according to a review of Vanderburgh County Circuit and Superior Court records.
Rankin first pleaded guilty to carrying a handgun without a license, which in 2012 was a Class A misdemeanor, and four years later, in 2016, Rankin pleaded guilty to stealing a firearm and again carrying a handgun without a license in connection with a robbery, for which he served time in a state prison.
Rankin's plea agreement in the 2016 case saw several of the most serious charges he faced dismissed, including battery by means of a deadly weapon; intimidation where a defendant draws or uses a deadly weapon, and robbery – taking property – by "force or threatening the use of force while armed," public records show.
Houston Harwood can be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com
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