Teen shot to death in Muncie, 5 arrested

UPDATE 4:21p.m.: Muncie PD have confirmed that five individuals have been arrested in connection with this case: two adults (19-year-old Dasha Eckford and 19-year-old Ricky Nathan), as well as three minors (aged 14, 16 and 17). They were all charged with:

• Conspiracy to commit robbery resulting in death (Level 2 felony)
• Aiding, inducing or causing an offense (Level 2 felony)
• Obstruction (Level 6 felony)

This remains an ongoing investigation.

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MUNCIE, Ind. — Detectives are investigating after a teen was killed on Wednesday night in Muncie, according to the Muncie Police Department.

Officers were dispatched at 10:03 p.m. to the 2900 block of N. Elgin St. on a report that a subject was down in a bush by Latitude Apartments’ (formerly Creekside Apartments) main office building.

Upon arrival, crews found a 15-year-old male shot. The victim was in critical condition. Emergency personnel transported him to Riley Hospital where he later died.

On Thursday afternoon, officials with the Marion County Coroner’s Office identified the person who died as 15-year-old Latajohne Phillips.

A woman who lives at the complex and wished to remain anonymous told out FOX59/CBS4 crews that she saw the whole thing unfold.

“I was just sitting there on the phone with my sister, and I heard a gunshot,” she said. “I looked out the window, my daughter came in running in the bedroom because she heard it too.”

She said she saw a group of boys quickly run away from the scene after the chaos unfolded.

“It just breaks my heart, something like this happening so close, and my [10-year-old] daughter seeing it as well. I just don’t know what to think…. He just started his life and something so senseless happening, over what? Someone’s life being taken over something so silly…  Just prayers for the family for the young boy that passed.”

After speaking with other neighbors at the complex, they said seeing something like this happen here is a complete shock.

“Of course, anything can happen anywhere, but I feel like I really wouldn’t expect something like that to happen here,” said Kendall Johnson who lives at the Latitude Apartments. “It’s scary. It shows you how just crazy the world can be. I would never expect something like that to happen, you know, especially so close.”

IMPD executed a search warrant at an apartment in Elgin Manor Apartments just a few blocks away from where the shooting happened.

This is an open investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Muncie Police Detectives at (765) 747-4867 or dispatch at (765) 747-4838.

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