A 19-year-old showed off his rifle to friends. Now a teenager is dead
In the early morning hours of Nov. 12, a group of friends descended to a basement to hang out.
As they mingled on futons in the basement of the Speedway home, a 19-year-old pulled out a black rifle from under the bed and began passing the weapon around to the five or so people, both young adults and people underage.
A few of them handled the weapon before giving it to the next person, witnesses later recalled to police.
While the rifle was passed around, the charging handle got pulled along the way, pushing a round into the rifle's chamber. Not long after the group realized the chamber had loaded, the rifle went off. Caiden Clements, 17, was struck. He died in the house.
Details about the early-morning shooting near West 22nd Street and North Auburn Street are contained in a preliminary probable cause affidavit filed by Speedway police. It's the city's first homicide of the year.
Benjamin Mulkey is jailed in the shooting and faces a murder charge as well as two felony counts of pointing a firearm in the case. Investigators in the police report said accounts from people in the basement at the time differ on whether the gun misfired or the trigger was intentionally pulled.
The make and model of the firearm was not detailed in the probable cause affidavit.
One of the people in the basement said Mulkey was warned about the chamber loading and that the safety was off before Mulkey pointed the gun at himself, then toward Clements, at which point it fired.
Another witness said they thought the bullet was jammed and handed the rifle to Mulkey to fix it. As Mulkey "messed with" the firearm, the report states, Clements got up to get a video game controller and the gun misfired.
After the gun went off and Clements fell to the ground, one of the juveniles told police they ran to find help. About 2 a.m. someone called police to report a juvenile knocked on their patio door asking for help because their "brother" had been shot.
Investigators said the juvenile couldn't lead them to the house where the shooting happened because he didn't know the exact address or the people inside. The juvenile was able to describe the vehicles parked outside and 15 minutes later, police found the home and Clements inside. Medics pronounced him dead minutes after 2:30 a.m.
Investigators also found Mulkey and several firearms inside the house and noted he had an active warrant for domestic battery out of Marion County.
Detectives were unable to immediately get details from him about what happened.
"Mulkey stated he did not want to speak with detectives and requested an attorney," the affidavit states.
The Marion County Prosecutor's Office will determine final charges.
Contact reporter Sarah Nelson at 317-503-7514 or sarah.nelson@indystar.com
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: A 19-year-old showed off his rifle to friends. Now a teen is dead
