Police arrest man connected to double homicide that occurred at a gas station near Marian University

INDIANAPOLIS — One man is under arrest for felony murder after two people were killed at a gas station near Marian University Saturday night.

Two 23-year-old men died in a flurry of gunfire. One witness told FOX59 and CBS4 he heard perhaps a half-dozen shots.

”This is my fifth year, so this is the closest and most prominent I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” said Roman Molden, a Marian student. “Rare to be this close, but within the general area, it’s not uncommon to hear shots.”

Two witnesses told FOX59 and CBS4 that, minutes before the shooting, the men were both inside the BP convenience store at West 30^th Street and Cold Spring Road. The men may have exchanged words at that time.

A car driven by Damarius Coffy, a 21-year-old, then left the parking and traveled northbound on Cold Spring Road, according to one witness.

Inside that car were Coffy’s younger brother, a cousin and the cousin’s 1-year-old son.

The witness said a block north of the scene, the cousin told Coffy to pull over and let him out. The cousin then returned to the store on foot.

The witness said the cousin was armed with his own gun and never explained why he was going back to the store.

IMPD homicide detectives have seized surveillance camera video that likely depicts the action both in the store and the parking lot.

A witness told FOX59 and CBS4 that, by the time Coffy’s car was turned around, headed back to the store and stuck at a stoplight, gunfire broke out in the parking lot.

A woman called 911 and told a police dispatcher that she had just shot a man. When police arrived, they found two guns near the bodies of the dead men.

The woman has been questioned and released. Coffy was also questioned, and after detectives consulted with the Marion County Prosecutors Office, he was charged with felony murder, which alleges he participated in the events surrounding the homicides — though he may not have necessarily committed the killings.

After the shooting, as families gathered at the scene, the 1-year-old was handed over to the custody of his mother.