Man sentenced to decades in prison for murder of Walter Tony Stein Jr. outside gas station
Update: Brandon McCormick was sentenced to 55 years in the Indiana Department of Correction and five years suspended to probation for the 2020 shooting death of Walter Stein, according to a news release issued by the Marion County Prosecutor's Office on Jan. 13, 2023.
Update: Brandon McCormick was found guilty of murder in the October 2020 death of Walter Tony Stein Jr. after a two-day jury trial that concluded on Dec. 13, 2022, court records show. A sentencing hearing for McCormick is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. in front of Marion Superior Court Judge Mark Stoner.
Original article: A 23-year-old man has been charged with murder in connection to an October shooting that prosecutors say stemmed from a gambling-related game outside a gas station on the northwest side of Indianapolis.
Brandon McCormick, of Indianapolis, was arrested more than four months after police found 30-year-old Walter Tony Stein Jr. suffering from gunshot wounds outside a Marathon gas station in the 3800 block of N. High School Road on Oct. 22.
Stein at the time of the shooting was transported in critical condition to IU Health Methodist Hospital, where he later died.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in court Tuesday, the shooting occurred after McCormick reportedly lost more than $1,000 in a game involving raffle tickets that Stein ran in the Marathon station's parking lot.
Related: Man identified in fatal northwest-side shooting
In addition to surveillance video that reportedly placed McCormick at the scene at the time of the shooting and witness statements indicating he was the shooter in the incident, investigators also used ballistic evidence to identify McCormick as a suspect.
Detectives recovered three FN 5.7x28mm fired cartridge casings from the scene, and a blue object detectives determined was "the tip of a 5.7 bullet" was found in Stein's body during an autopsy, according to the affidavit.
A search of McCormick's car two weeks after the incident revealed he was in possession of a Glock handgun and a P90 rifle loaded with "the same kind of bullet that was recovered from decedent Walter Stein," the affidavit says. Police searched McCormick's mother's house in Danville the same day, finding the same ammunition.
McCormick also made several phone calls to and from the Marion County Jail before and after the shooting that hinted at his involvement in the incident, investigators said.
In one call placed three hours before the shooting, McCormick told an inmate “that two ‘hooligans’ tried to ‘try your white boy’ and he had to ‘shut down service,'" according to the affidavit.
“You know that white boy ain’t playing,” McCormick told the inmate in the phone call, the affidavit states. “I got that big F and N now, and the 5.7 to match the P90.”
Similarly, on Nov. 6, McCormick made a phone call from the jail — where he was incarcerated on unrelated charges — and talked about "people owing him money and if they don’t pay him there will be bodies dropping,” according to the affidavit.
Court records show McCormick is also facing charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and drug charges stemming from a separate incident in November. He has previously pleaded guilty to domestic battery charges.
McCormick is being held in Marion County Jail without bond. An initial hearing in the incident is scheduled for Thursday.
Police are asking anyone with information about this incident to call the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 or (TIPS).
Contact Lawrence Andrea at 317-775-4313 or landrea@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @lawrencegandrea.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis crime: Man guilty of murder in shooting of Walter Stein
