Indianapolis Man Killed 4 After Fight Over Stimulus Check, Police Say

An Indianapolis man was accused of fatally shooting four people over the weekend after arguing with his girlfriend because he wanted a portion of her federal coronavirus stimulus check, police officials said.

The man, Malik Halfacre, 25, was arrested on Sunday, a day after the shootings, and is expected to face murder, robbery and attempted-murder charges, according to the police and Indiana jail records.

Just after 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, the police received a report of a person shot in a home on North Randolph Street. There, the police said, officers found a woman who was taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds. That victim told the police that there were additional victims at another home, also on North Randolph Street.

At the second home, the police found four gunshot victims whom they identified as Eve Moore, 7; Daquan Moore, 23; Anthony Johnson, 35; and Tomeeka Brown, 44. They were all pronounced dead at the scene by emergency medical workers, the police said.

The woman who was shot at the first house was identified by the police in a probable cause affidavit as J.M. She told the police that Mr. Halfacre was her boyfriend and that after the shooting, he had taken the couple’s 6-month-old child, Malia Halfacre. It was not clear how Mr. Halfacre knew the people in the second house.

Mr. Halfacre dropped off the child, unharmed, at the home of his sister, who told the police that her brother had confessed to her to killing four people, according to the police affidavit. Mr. Halfacre then went to the home of a friend, where members of a SWAT team later found him hiding in the attic. He “gave up without incident,” Officer Genae Cook of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department told reporters.

After his arrest, Mr. Halfacre spoke to detectives, according to the affidavit. “Mr. Halfacre said he and J.M. were arguing because he wanted some of her stimulus check,” it said. He also admitted to shooting the four people in the second home and taking money, it said.

Michael Leffler, communications director for the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, said Mr. Halfacre was not expected to be formally charged before Thursday and that the episode was still under investigation.