Bertram
An Indianapolis man is facing kidnapping, confinement and weapons charges after police say he stole a truck with someone else inside it and held them at gunpoint last week in Greenwood.
Carmelo M. Bertram, 18, was charged Thursday with one count each of kidnapping and criminal confinement, both Level 3 felonies; two counts of pointing a firearm at another person, a Level 6 felony; one count of auto theft, a Level 6 felony; and one count of conversion, a misdemeanor. He was arrested on July 17.
Just hours before the shooting at Greenwood Park Mall, police responded at approximately 2:10 p.m. on July 17 to a report of a possible shooting at Polo Run Apartments, 800 Kings Mill Road. This incident was not related to the mall shooting, however, the gunman from the mall shooting also resided in this apartment complex before he was killed by an armed bystander.
When police arrived at Polo Run, they were unable to locate anything or anyone. A short time later, police received a phone call from a man that said he had fired shots into a door following an altercation he had with Bertram and asked police to come to his apartment, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Johnson County Superior Court 3.
The man told police that his friend was afraid to come back to the apartment because of Bertram, who had caused issues there in the past. The man was making sure it was safe for his friend to go inside, and when he left the apartment, he saw Bertram walking up the stairs with a handgun. Bertram then pointed it at the man, he told police.
The man ran back inside the apartment, locked the door, and told police he heard Bertram attempting to enter the apartment. In fear of Bertram getting inside, the man grabbed his gun and fired four rounds into the door, he told police. Officers collected the weapon, and later released him from custody, the affidavit says.
The man told police that his friend had texted him asking for help and notified him that his truck was stolen. The friend told police she was going into her apartment to see if her belongings were there and if anything was damaged. When she went up to the apartment, the door was open so she asked the first victim to check the apartment while she waited in his truck, the affidavit says.
While she was in the truck, Bertram walked up to the window of the truck, opened the door and pulled her out. The two argued, then Bertram grabbed a handgun that was in the truck and ran up the stairs toward the apartment, according to the affidavit.
She later heard gunshots and saw Bertram run back downstairs, get into the truck, point the gun at her and drive away. He drove a short distance before parking the truck and forcing her into a second vehicle. She told police she did not want to go with Bertram, according to the affidavit.
She was later dropped back at Polo Run after an officer spoke with Bertram over the phone, the affidavit says.
When officers spoke with Bertram, he said he had been walking back from the Greenwood Park Mall when he saw the woman in a parking lot. He later told officers that he was going upstairs to retrieve his belongings from inside the apartment when he saw the man in the hallway, according to the affidavit.
Bertram said the man had waved a gun at him, so he went down to the truck to grab the man’s other weapon. As he was heading back upstairs, he heard gunshots. He then told police he was in fear of his life and admitted that he stole the man’s truck, the affidavit says.
He also said the woman wanted to go with him, even though she had texted the man asking for help, the affidavit says.
Bertram told police he drove a short distance away and threw the man’s handgun, which Bertram had taken, into a nearby pond because he did not want to get into trouble. He then said he dropped the woman off near the apartment complex’s entrance.
Police asked both witnesses how many times Bertram went upstairs, and they both said they only saw him do so once, the affidavit says.
Bertram was booked into the Johnson County jail at around the same time police were responding to the mass shooting at Greenwood Park Mall. Bertram remains in jail on a $33,200 bond.
