'Shattered forever': Here's how a fatal Vanderburgh County shooting reportedly unfolded
EVANSVILLE — A desolate stretch of road in the Ohio River bottoms became the scene of a tragedy Monday afternoon when two brothers intent on investigating a series of trespassing incidents crossed paths with two teenagers, one of whom was armed.
The boys drove to Chad and Shawn Wildt's property to "take pictures" — at least that's what a nervous 17-year-old told Evansville 911 dispatchers Monday evening. Not long before, he reportedly had witnessed his friend, 18-year-old Austin Ousley, shoot the two brothers.
The Wildt family owned the small, white farmhouse at 5100 Cypress Dale Road. While the teenagers thought the home was abandoned and had entered without permission, the Wildts had actually been keeping a close eye on their property using a trail camera they'd set up outside.
When Chad and Shawn saw the teenagers in the footage, they reportedly confronted them.
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In 911 call audio obtained by the Courier & Press, the 17-year-old is heard struggling to describe what happened next. He said the altercation escalated quickly. One of the Wildts punched Ousley, he claimed, and tried to block in the teens' vehicles with their truck.
Neither of the Wildts, though, brought a gun, according to Vanderburgh County Sheriff Noah Robinson. But Ousley did.
At some point, police say Ousley pulled his weapon and fired, striking Chad in the face and Shawn in the torso. Chad, 42, managed to crawl outside. Shawn died inside the house. The beloved husband and father was 36 years old.
At the time the 17-year-old called 911, however, he didn't know about Shawn Wildt's death. He wasn't even sure how badly Chad had been injured. He and Ousley had left the scene, and he was now having a hard time getting hold of his friend.
He didn't know where Ousley was, only that he'd told him to "go to the police station." They had communicated through social media, though. The 17-year-old claimed Ousley sent him a video taking responsibility for "everything."
"Can I get in trouble?" the teenager asked a dispatcher. "I really don’t want to be associated with this.”
"You were there," the dispatcher replied. "So you are associated with it.”
What police and witnesses say happened on Cypress Dale Road
That narrative was pieced together from Evansville-Vanderburgh Central Dispatch records and public remarks Robinson made the day after the fatal shooting.
The investigation is ongoing, and several key questions remain unanswered. Ousley's account of what happened is not publicly known; he is receiving treatment for a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and has "permanent brain damage," Robinson said.
Nor do we know what happened from the Wildts' point of view. Robinson told the Courier & Press the brothers were unarmed, and that the teenagers had "no business" being inside the house.
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What no one disputes is that both Wildt brothers were shot, and that their families' lives have been "shattered now forever," Robinson said.
"We'll be with (their family) every step of the way to make sure justice is served," he said.
Bystander finds Chad Wildt outside the home
News of the shooting in that quiet stretch of rural Vanderburgh County soon spread into the community at large.
A man who lives nearby happened to be driving past the farmhouse when he found Chad outside the home, horribly injured and bleeding.
During a 911 call, the bystander is heard asking Chad if he knew what happened, but the injured farmer and family man could only say "no." The bystander flagged down two nearby electrical workers for help.
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The 17-year-old had not contacted dispatch yet, so this was the first anyone away from the farmhouse had heard of the shooting. How did the man get injured, a dispatcher asked. Had he been in a car wreck?
"Not from the looks of his truck," the bystander said.
Vanderburgh County sheriff's deputies responded soon after. That's when they found Shawn inside the house and started piecing the story together.
Speculation spreads on social media
The news of the shooting first made its way to the broader Evansville community through pages on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Evansville Watch, a website and Facebook page that monitors local police scanner traffic to report incidents "as they happen," posted about the shooting to more than 155,000 followers at 5:14 p.m.
In the initial post, allegedly citing dispatchers' recounting of the 17-year-old's call, Evansville Watch stated "4 subjects pulled up in a vehicle and assaulted the caller's friends."
"Caller says that one of the caller's friends then fired a shot at the subjects," the post continues.
But Robinson never mentioned anyone else arriving at the home besides the Wildt brothers, and investigators did not corroborate claims either brother put up a fight.
It was the 17-year-old caller and Ousley who were not supposed to be inside the home, Robinson said. It was Ousley who opened fire on two unarmed men. If Ousley survives and recovers, detective Doug Daza said Tuesday, he could face "serious" criminal charges.
Hundreds of Facebook users commented on initial posts about the shooting, including some who appeared to praise Ousley: "Good job by the person carrying!" one wrote.
But at that point, none of the involved parties had been identified by police. Speculation about what may have taken place at the abandoned farm house ran rampant.
"Taking pictures huh? Seems a bit sketchy to me," one commenter wrote.
"So what's in the house?" another asked.
"I'm so sick of evil lurking everywhere," yet another said.
'Shattered now forever'
By Monday night, Robinson released limited details to the media and announced a Tuesday morning news conference, during which he identified Ousely as the shooter and the Wildt brothers as victims.
"You've got two adults who were there to check on their property and their lives have been shattered now forever," Robinson said.
Houston Harwood can be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com. Jon Webb can be reached at jon.webb@courierpress.com.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: 'Shattered forever': How a fatal Vanderburgh Co. shooting unfolded
