Court records: Classmate arrested in 2020 death of former Ben Davis High School student
A 21-year-old former Ben Davis High School student has been arrested in the fatal shooting of his classmate in 2020, court records show.
Nichale Johnson was taken into custody Monday. He is facing a murder charge in the death of 18-year-old Rashaad Germany Jr.
Germany was killed outside his grandmother’s house in the 3300 block of North Ashland Avenue in the early morning hours of Oct. 30, 2020.
Police believe Johnson used a classmate’s Instagram account to message Germany and lure him out of the house before shooting him, according to a probable cause affidavit for Johnson’s arrest.
"No matter what happened, there was no reason for someone to kill my son," said Rashaad Germany Sr. "He was a big teddy bear. He was goofy just like his daddy. He loved video games and he loved his family."
Rashaad Germany Sr. said his son had autism and never would have purposefully antagonized anybody.
Officers were first called to the east side neighborhood on a report of shots fired when they found Germany Jr. with multiple gunshot injuries. He died at the scene.
Investigators found an Instagram account with a profile picture of a girl that Germany Jr. had been messaging. He agreed to meet the person he was messaging outside the home minutes before he was killed.
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Family members recognized the account Germany Jr. had been messaging with as belonging to his former classmate. The profile picture for the account was changed and messages with Germany Jr. were deleted hours after the deadly shooting, according to the affidavit.
Police were later contacted by a girl, who was the owner of the Instagram account, and her mother. They told investigators that the day before the shooting, a classmate asked the girl to use her Instagram account as he was planning a “setup,” the affidavit reads.
Using a school yearbook, the girl identified Johnson as the classmate she let use her Instagram account. At the time of the shooting, Johnson was 17 years old and a student at Ben Davis High School while Germany Jr. had graduated several months earlier.
An attorney for Johnson was not yet listed in online court records before publication of this article.
Johnson tells police someone else shot Rashaad Germany Jr.
Police later found Johnson had deactivated his Instagram account 12 hours after Germany Jr. was killed.
In the days leading up to the shooting, Johnson had messaged other accounts asking for help getting somebody’s address. He also discussed the purchase of firearms in Instagram messages, the affidavit reads.
When taken into custody, Johnson had two handguns. He first told a detective he didn’t know Germany Jr. or the girl from the Instagram account Germany Jr. was messaging. He later said he did know them and that they all attended Ben Davis High School together, the affidavit reads.
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Johnson stated he argued with Germany Jr. in gym class months earlier. He told investigators he was trying to find out where Germany Jr. lived because he wanted to fight him.
“Johnson said he was trying to buy a gun for self-defense before Germany’s death but that he did not actually buy one and did not take a gun with him to Germany’s house,” the affidavit reads.
He was approaching Germany Jr.'s house when he heard gunshots then ran to his car and drove away, Johnson stated.
“Johnson said he arrived at Germany’s alone and that he didn’t know who fired the shots,” the affidavit reads.
For Rashaad Germany Sr., he is relieved to see an arrest in his son's case, but hopes violence in the city ends.
"You have your whole life ahead of you when you are this young," Rashaad Germany Sr. said. "Everyone just needed to stop and think about the consequences to their actions."
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis crime: Classmate arrested in 2020 shooting death of teen
