A sign outside the public entrance to the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023 in Franklin, Indiana.
Daily Journal File Photo
Prosecutors are seeking to charge a 15-year-old Greenwood girl as an adult for her alleged role in the murder of an Indianapolis man in a robbery set-up.
Da’Zaria Dyson, 15, could be charged as an adult on felony charges of murder, aiding armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Under Indiana law, murder is punishable by 45 to 65 years and armed robbery is punishable by 3 to 16 years, according to the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Prosecutors say Dyson conspired with Quincy D. Stringer Jr., 17, of Greenwood, to rob Ethan J. David, 18, during an alleged drug deal on Dec. 10 in Greenwood. Stringer is accused of fatally shooting David and was charged with murder last week.
A juvenile waiver hearing for Dyson will be conducted by Juvenile Magistrate Judge Michael T. Bohn to determine whether Dyson will face charges in adult court or remain in juvenile court, the prosecutor’s office said.
Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner said he wants would-be juvenile offenders to know that adult crimes will result in adult consequences.
“If you commit a grown-up crime, you’ll do grown-up time,” Hamner said in a written statement.
The fatal shooting occurred in the 2000 block of Liberty Way Drive in Greenwood’s Central Park neighborhood on Dec. 10. When Greenwood police arrived at the crime scene, they found David dead in the driver’s seat of a silver sedan. The car had been running and the driver’s door had been left open, according to a probable cause affidavit filed against Stringer in Johnson Superior Court 3.
David’s leg appeared to be out of the car and he was wearing a black face mask. He died from a single gunshot wound to the forehead, according to the affidavit.
Witnesses reported seeing two people running from the car after hearing a gunshot. The two suspects fled the scene heading west. A police K9 was called to the scene to track them, but lost their scent after a while, the affidavit shows.
Inside David’s car, police say they found a backpack that had packaged raw marijuana, candy bars with psilocybin, THC cartridges, a broken cell phone, drug paraphernalia and empty plastic bags. Psilocybin is a compound found in “magic mushrooms,” a controlled substance.
Detectives also found a working cell phone belonging to David. They found a chat with a user known as “d” on Telegram, a social messaging application. Messages sent the day of the shooting show “d” was trying to convince David that the meeting was not a “set up,” the affidavit shows.
David had also called the number through Telegram. Records show that he had two cash transfers on Cash App with Dyson. Her address was a little more than a quarter mile away from where the shooting happened, the affidavit says.
As the investigation continued, detectives learned information from a third juvenile who overheard Stringer and Dyson allegedly making plans to rob their “plug,” slang for a narcotics dealer. The pair reportedly referred to the dealer as “Eli” and/or “Ethan” during a conversation at Stringer’s home, according to the affidavit.
Dyson and Stringer reportedly planned to be at their neighborhood park when the dealer would arrive. They’d ask the dealer about what he was selling, and after they got an answer, they would “hold” the dealer and steal the drugs, the affidavit shows.
The third juvenile did not want to be part of the plan, and the pair reportedly made fun of the juvenile for not wanting to take part in the robbery, according to the affidavit.
While the third juvenile did not see Stringer with a firearm, they knew he owned a black handgun with hollow point bullets. Eventually, the trio left the home through the back door to avoid a camera at the front door seeing them leave, though the third juvenile went a different direction, the affidavit shows.
Detectives later learned Stringer planned to mail the gun believed to be involved in the shooting to an address in Kentucky. Because of this, police contacted Clark-Pleasant schools, where Stringer is a student, to ask them to let students out early for the day and to have Clark-Pleasant Police detain both Stringer and Dyson. They were later taken to the Greenwood Police Department, the affidavit shows.
During a search of Stringer’s home, police found a plastic bag with loaded handguns, ammo and marijuana. One of the guns matched a gun that belonged to David, and the marijuana was consistent with what was found in the backpack in David’s vehicle, the affidavit says.
Dyson told detectives that Stringer said he wanted to rob “E.J.”, a.k.a. David, of his marijuana. Stringer had allegedly asked her to set up a deal with him, and a deal was set at Central Park, the affidavit shows.
Dyson said she did not see Stringer carrying a gun the night of the shooting, but knew he had carried one before. Once David arrived at the park, the duo approached his car and she saw Stringer be handed marijuana, according to the affidavit.
Stringer allegedly told Dyson to get back. She said she was a block away when she heard a gunshot. She then ran to Stringer’s home, and he later came back as well, the affidavit says.
Dyson did not visually observe the shooting and did not know David would be shot, according to the affidavit. The next day, Stringer reportedly sent her a message saying something along the lines of “I shot.”
Stringer and one of his parents declined to speak to police about the incident, the affidavit says.
Another Whiteland Community High School student told police Stringer had reportedly video-called them while crying in the hours after the shooting, saying he “didn’t know what had just happened.” The student didn’t want to be involved, so they hung up the phone, the affidavit shows.
In a second video call the following day, the student took screenshots of Stringer holding both guns found at his home. Dyson was also reportedly on the video call and was in the same room as Stringer.
The student said they heard Dyson say she wished she pulled the trigger themselves. She then began to laugh and make fun of the way David’s body reacted after being shot, the affidavit says.
