With formal charges expected to be filed Monday in Madison County, more details have emerged about the suspect in the deadly shooting of an Elwood police officer.
Police arrested 42-year-old Carl Roy Webb Boards II of Anderson in connection to the fatal shooting that took the life of 24-year-old Noah Shahnavaz during a traffic stop.
Boards is accused of shooting and killing Officer Shahnavaz around 2 a.m. Sunday near the intersection of State Road 37 and County Road 1100 N. in Madison County.
Investigators say Boards fled from the scene of the shooting, and the suspect’s vehicle was seen after 2:30 a.m. in Hamilton County near SR 37 and 142nd Street. Fishers police conducted a pit stop maneuver and were able to stop Boards’ vehicle on I-69 near SR 37.
Boards was taken into custody and is currently being held without bond in the Hamilton County Jail.
16 years earlier, Boards fired at Indianapolis police officers
A look at Boards’ lengthy criminal history shows he was sentenced to a 25-year aggravated sentence in connection to a 2006 incident in which he shot at Indianapolis police officers.
According to a response to an appeal filed on behalf of Boards, Boards pointed a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun at two Indianapolis police officers who had attempted to pull him over for not using a turn signal on November 30, 2006.
The court documents show Boards fired seven times, and three bullets hit one of the officer’s IPD squad cars.
Boards’ vehicle was eventually stopped by a “precision intervention technique.” His appeal shows two weapons were found in his Suburban: “a Taurus .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun on the front seat and an AK-47-style assault rifle with a loaded drum magazine on the floor of the driver’s side.”
Eight ecstasy pills were found in Boards’ pocket, and he reportedly took at least one ecstasy pill earlier.
Boards was originally charged with attempted murder, possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, three counts of resisting law enforcement, possession of a schedule I controlled substance (ecstasy), and carrying a handgun without a license.
In August 2007, a jury found Boards guilty of criminal recklessness, two counts of resisting law enforcement, possession of ecstasy, and carrying a handgun without a license.
The jury did not convict him of attempted murder.
A jury trial was waived on the following counts: unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, a class C felony enhancement to the carrying a handgun without a license conviction, and the habitual offender allegation.
A court did find him guilty on all three counts in September of 2007.
Boards received the following sentence:
- 7 years for class D felony criminal recklessness
- 18 years consecutive for class B felony unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon
- Concurrent 3-year terms for each of the class D felony resisting convictions
- 3-year concurrent sentence for the ecstasy possession conviction
- 8-year concurrent sentence for the class C felony carrying a handgun without a license conviction.
The concurrent terms means they would be done simultaneously as the first two terms, so Boards was sentenced to 25 years altogether.
According to the Department of Corrections database, Boards’ sentence for criminal recklessness ended on August 21, 2011. However, he was held further in the DOC on his possession of a deadly weapon charge, which ran consecutively to his criminal recklessness charge. He was not released from custody until August 16, 2019. Marion County Judge Mark Stoner confirmed this sequence of events.
Boards appeals conviction
Boards unsuccessfully appealed his conviction three times.
In a Court of Appeals decision filed in 2008, Boards’ attorneys argued his unlawful possession of a
firearm by a serious violent felon and carrying a handgun without a license convictions violated the double jeopardy clause.
Boards also said his sentence was inappropriate because he suffered from mental illness that needed treatment.
“He claims that on the night in question he was patrolling Indianapolis for terrorists and that he shot toward the police officers only because he did not want them to interfere with his protective mission,” read the court documents.
The Court of Appeals declined to authorize the filing of Boards’ petition, citing his “failure to take prescribed medications to combat his illness” and
Boards’ charges in Elwood officer’s death
Boards is facing the following preliminary charges for Officer Noah Shahnavaz’s death: murder, possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, resisting law enforcement.
The Madison County Prosecutor’s Office says it will talk to Shahnavaz’s family before deciding whether to seek the death penalty.
