Man, toddler shot to death on northeast side of Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS — Armonie Booker turned 3-years-old on Monday.

To celebrate, Jaishawn Johnson, 22, the boyfriend of the toddler’s mother, took the boy out with him.

Just before 9:30 p.m., in a parking lot at 7300 North Shadeland Avenue, Johnson was found shot to death and the boy was mortally wounded only to die at Riley Hospital for Children later.

”A worker heard two people arguing, or something like that, and then after that, he said the car was like driving off and then somebody just started shooting,” Johnson’s brother told FOX59/CBS4. ”Armonie is Jaishawn’s stepson. They bonded and stuff like that. Yesterday was Armonie’s birthday and so I guess he was riding around with Armonie in the car, trying to spend some time with him and stuff like that, and that just happened.”

Plywood covers the window of one storefront facing the parking lot as IMPD detectives scour security cameras for evidence of the shooting.

At the time of his death, Johnson was on probation for a July guilty plea to one count of resisting law enforcement, part of a deal that saw a charge of possession of a machine gun dropped as the result of a 2023 arrest.

”He chose a path of his life and I don’t blame him for it and stuff like that because Jaishawn, that’s my brother and all, and he was spoiled, stuff like that, and that was the best part about him because the way he acted,” said Johnson’s brother. ”Jaishawn just chose down the path but he was trying to get on the right path, talking about getting his CDL license and all that, he was trying to get back on that path.”

A Castleton area church will hold a vigil at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the site to memorialize the victims.

Armonie is the third young child to die of a gunshot wound in Indianapolis in the last 10 days.

”Its most definitely wrong because kids don’t got nothing to do with it. Kids, they got their own thing going on, trying to grow up,” said Johnson’s brother. ”Its so sad that when children get caught up they have to lose their life, too, at an early age because of two other peoples’ disagreements or arguments.”

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