A former Mantorville resident is suspected of murder after a shooting early Sunday in the parking lot of an Indiana McDonald’s.
Evan James Franklin Schaffer, 22, now of Orleans, Ind., will appear before a judge in Lawrence County Superior Court, according to an employee with the court clerk’s office.
The shooting occurred about 1:15 a.m. Sunday in Bedford, a south-central Indiana town of about 13,000.
Police were initially called for a report of a fight; before officers arrived, however, they learned one man had been shot and the alleged shooter had fled, local media reports say.
Witnesses provided police with a description of the vehicle and direction of travel; the car was stopped a short time later and Schaffer was arrested.
The victim, Marine veteran , was taken to Indiana University Health Hospital in Bloomington, where he later died.
His sister, Alyssa Stahl, posted on Facebook that Lampkins was in the fourth vehicle in line at the McDonald’s drive-through when the shooting occurred.
The person in the first car ordered and moved ahead, Stahl wrote, but the person in the second car, Schaffer, didn’t move, so the driver in the third car honked his horn.
Schaffer then got out of his car, went back to the third car and asked its driver if he was the one that honked his horn. That driver said no, so he went to the next vehicle, Lampkins’ truck.
“Justin already had his window down and was with his girlfriend and a buddy,” she wrote. “The guy (Schaffer) reached in Justin’s truck and grabbed him and punched him. Justin got out to go after the guy (Schaffer) and the guy (Schaffer) turned around a shot Justin dead in the chest. The guy (Schaffer) ran and Justin’s girlfriend and his buddy told the cops what he looked like and what car he was in and they (Bedford Police) caught him he’s in jail for murder charges.”
A 2013 graduate of Triton High School, Schaffer had been arrested in Bloomington, Ind., and charged with arson about six weeks ago after he allegedly set fire to his own apartment, possibly as part of a plan to leave the state and begin life anew, according to the police.
The fire was contained to the bedroom of Schaffer’s apartment, officials said, and nobody was injured in the fire.
Authorities originally believed the fire was started by a cigarette left in the bedroom. According to a police report, a fire investigator called police officers back to the scene after he found motor oil on the walls and floor of the bedroom. A bucket of oil was also found on the floor.
Schaffer, his girlfriend and their dog returned shortly after the fire was put out. He admitted to smoking a cigarette in the bedroom before leaving but denied setting the fire. When police noted what appeared to be oil on his clothes, he said he had been working on a car, local media reported.
The fire investigator determined the fire was arson, and police arrested Schaffer and took him to the Monroe County Correctional Center. Schaffer’s girlfriend told police he had talked in the past about getting rid of everything and starting fresh.
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His vision has came true. He will be starting a new life, hopefully the rest of his life!
I hope it is a short one!!!