An Evansville man is facing murder and robbery in connection with a shooting that occurred in the AMC movie theater parking lot on Tuesday evening. Two other suspects are still at large.
Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Evansville Police Department officers responded to the AMC movie theater parking lot located on Pearl Drive at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday following reports that shots were fired.
Callers also advised Central Dispatch that a vehicle had rolled down a wooded embankment at the edge of the parking lot and that two males had fled the scene in a silver Lexus.
Upon arrival, responding officers located a black Dodge Durango down a wooded embankment to the east of the parking lot. The male driver was found to have suffered apparent gunshot wounds and was declared dead at the scene despite efforts to render aid.
The victim sustained two entry wounds and two exit wounds to the torso. Two spent shell casings were recovered from the area of the parking lot where the shooting occurred.
Video surveillance obtained from the theater provided investigators with a detailed account of the events leading up to the shooting. The footage showed the Durango and a silver Lexus parked alongside each other on the east end of the lot.
Three individuals were observed exiting the Lexus and entering the Durango. One of the individuals subsequently exited the vehicle and began transferring items from the Durango to the Lexus.
While that person was outside the vehicle with the rear hatch open, the Durango suddenly drove off, traveling in circles throughout the parking lot before heading eastbound and eventually down the wooded embankment. The two remaining occupants were seen exiting the moving vehicle, falling to the ground, recovering, and then fleeing the scene in the Lexus.
Investigators utilized Flock Safety camera technology to track the Lexus to the parking lot of a restaurant in the 280 block of N. Green River Road. The vehicle was stopped and Kardae Langley, 19, of Evansville, was identified as the driver and sole occupant. Langley was transported to the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office Operations Center, where his vehicle was seized pending a search warrant.
Detectives interviewed Langley, who was advised of and waived his Miranda rights. Langley stated that he, along with Deshawndre Brown (known to him as “Dre”) and Pierce Butler (known to him as “Pierce”), had arranged to purchase marijuana vape cartridges from the victim, who had previously supplied similar products to Brown.
Langley admitted to driving the group to the theater for the transaction. He further stated that while waiting for the victim to arrive, Brown announced his intention to rob the victim and was in possession of what Langley believed to be an ARP, a pistol-style, which is a shortened variant of an AR-15 platform firearm.
Despite this knowledge, Langley continued to participate and took no steps to disengage himself from the situation or prevent the robbery from occurring.
Langley stated that after the victim arrived and all three entered the Durango, Brown directed him to transfer boxes of vape cartridges from the Durango to the Lexus. While doing so, Brown and the victim began arguing over Brown’s intent to rob rather than purchase the vapes.
Langley reported hearing two gunshots from inside the Durango. Brown and Butler then exited the moving vehicle and fled with Langley in the Lexus. Langley further told investigators that during their flight from the scene, Butler asked Brown why he had shot the victim, to which Brown responded that it was his fault and that he had made a mistake.
Langley later paid Brown $500 for a portion of the stolen vapes before dropping Brown and Butler off on the southeast side of the city.
“This is a senseless tragedy that resulted in the loss of a young life, and our hearts go out to his family,” said Sheriff Noah Robinson stated. “What makes this even more sobering is that the choices made that night didn’t just end one young life, they destroyed several. These suspects had futures of their own, and they threw them away in a moment of greed and violence. There are no winners here, only families left to pick up the pieces.”
Sheriff Robinson added, “I want to thank the Evansville Police Department, Indiana State Police, and Vanderburgh County Coroner’s Office for their swift response and invaluable partnership as we work to bring all those responsible to justice.”
Langley has been charged with murder, robbery as a level 1 felony.
Brown, 19, of Evansville, and Butler, 18, of Evansville, are still at large.
The investigation remains active and ongoing.
Anyone with information related to this incident is encouraged to contact the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office at https://vanderburghsheriff.org/tip-submit/ or by calling (812) 421-6297.
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