A 20-year-old Indianapolis man is facing a reckless homicide charge after his 21-year-old girlfriend was fatally shot while the two sat together on a couch, in what prosecutors say was the deadly result of irresponsible firearm handling.
Louis Jenkins Jr. was taken into custody earlier this month following the death of Rebecca Carter, who was shot on the night of April 1 at a home in the 500 block of Carlyle Place. Officers from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department responded to reports of a shooting just before midnight and found Carter with a gunshot wound.
She was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition, but later succumbed to her injuries. Several others were inside the home at the time, including a juvenile and two young children. Accounts of exactly what happened differ significantly.
A juvenile witness told investigators that Carter had been handling Jenkins’ gun while sitting on the couch, was “playing with the gun” during a FaceTime call, and at one point was “kissing the gun” and told Jenkins to “put it in my mouth.” According to the witness, when Jenkins raised the weapon, Carter lifted her hand and either grabbed it or struck the trigger, causing it to discharge.
Jenkins offered a different version of events, telling police the juvenile had been pointing a Glock at him, which led him to retrieve his own Taurus pistol from a nearby cubby. According to the probable cause affidavit, Jenkins said that “while the gun was pointed at Ms. Carter, his finger slipped, and it hit the trigger and went off.”
Moments after the shot was fired, a witness heard Jenkins say, “Oh my God. I’m so stupid. I had one in the head” a reference to a round already in the chamber. He later told police he does not normally keep a bullet chambered and had been “playing around” with the gun, local NBC affiliate WTHR reported.
He said he removed the magazine and discarded the weapon after the shooting, then called his mother and attempted to help Carter by holding her neck. While being transported by police, Jenkins made a stark admission, saying, “I should have shot myself instead of her because my life is over.”
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears drew a clear lesson from the tragedy. “What happened here is we had a group of friends who were joking around with a gun, using it in irresponsible ways, and the consequence was someone lost their life,” he said.
Carter’s family remembered her warmly. “Becca was fun, and she had a tenacious spirit,” her godmother said. “We just want to let people know that life is fleeting.” Jenkins was released after posting a $40,000 bond and is due back in court for a pretrial conference on June 2.
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