ANDERSON, Ind. — Detectives in Anderson have arrested three people for their alleged roles in a deadly shooting Saturday night that took the life of 28-year-old Dustin Rhodes.
Brandon Brooks, Alyssa Young and Mason Miller have all been booked into the Madison County Jail on a preliminary charge of murder.
Police were called to the Steeplechase apartments just before midnight on Dec. 7 and found Rhodes shot and beaten inside his apartment. He was taken to a local hospital where he died hours later.
According to a report obtained by FOX59/CBS4, the deadly encounter started as a fight between Rhodes and his girlfriend, Alyssa Young.
Young told police that after the fight she left Rhodes’ apartment and called her friend Brandon Brooks. Brooks told her he wanted to talk with Rhodes because he was tired of receiving calls from her every time they fought.
Brooks brought along two friends, including 22-year-old Mason Miller, but claimed he only wanted to speak with Rhodes and didn’t want to fight him.
Once at Rhodes’ apartment, Young told police that she sent Rhodes a message saying, “You really f****d up this time, come outside.”
Brooks claims that after that, Rhodes came out with a knife and began to push him so he punched him several times. According to records obtained by FOX59/CBS4, Brooks told police that Rhodes fell to the ground and then everyone left.
Brooks made no mention of the shooting until asked by police. He told detectives Miller had to be the one that fired the shot.
Young told detectives that she, Brooks and another man returned to the scene a short time after the shooting and carried Rhodes up to his third-floor apartment. While doing so, a neighbor came out of their apartment and saw what was happening. It was only then that Young dialed 911, according to police.
“They waited an unreasonable amount of time to call the police and ask for assistance,” Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said.
Both Young and Brooks were arrested the day after the shooting.
Records obtained by FOX 59/CBS4 said Miller hid the murder weapon and it was later found by police at a home in Muncie.
Miller was arrested on Monday after police released his photo to the public in an attempt to find him.
Cummings said this case is yet another example of people solving their problems in the worst kind of way.
“It doesn’t have to be that heated. Why does everything have to lead to that level of argument,” Cummings said. “I just don’t understand it. Pulling the trigger over an argument makes no sense to me at all.”
Police confirmed they have been in contact with the fourth person who was there that evening but so far he has not been arrested.
The prosecutor’s office has asked for 72 hours to sort out what exactly happened and what each person’s role was before filing formal charges.
