By Libby Cunningham
Source The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
CLARKSVILLE, IN—The teenage suspect accused of firing seven rounds into the home of Clarksville Police Chief Mark Palmer told officers he walked up to the residence with the intent to "fight someone."
Seventeen-year-old Samuel Dale Jaggers is facing two attempted murder charges, Level 1 felonies, and a criminal recklessness charge, a Level 5 felony.
Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull said Wednesday that under Indiana law, if an individual is 16 years of age or older, and is charged with attempted murder, the charge goes to adult court.
"That individual is prosecuted as an adult for those crimes," Mull said.
Charging papers show Jaggers' birthday is Oct. 22, 2005.
According to the probable cause affidavit, seven shots from a 9mm handgun were fired into Palmer's home in Clarksville at about 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 18.
During the investigation police spoke to a juvenile who was supposed to fight a group of people on that day. The juvenile told officers that Jaggers called him via Snapchat voice call and told him he was going to fight him. The other juvenile realized Jaggers was tracking him via his Snapchat location, immediately turned the location off and gave him the wrong address to go to, according to court records.
The juvenile said he knew a police officer lived down the street from him, so he gave Jaggers that address, so Jaggers would go there and then get into trouble.
He told police he knew Jaggers went to Palmer's house because he broadcasted it live over Snapchat and he believes he deleted it after.
When Indiana State Police investigators processed the scene, they discovered seven spent 9mm shell casings in front of the home. All seven rounds struck the home and four of those seven rounds were recovered from inside of the residence. The rounds were fired into two windows in the home's kitchen, where a light was left on.
While investigating the shooting, surveillance video was obtained showing several people in the area of the shooting at around 3:30 a.m., along with a white, four-door passenger vehicle. The people in the video appeared to be young adults or juveniles.
Police took the video to Clarksville High School, where an administrator said someone in the video looked like a teen they could identify. That administrator told police this individual was close friends with Jaggers, who attends New Albany High School and has a white Toyota Corolla.
While investigating the incident, police learned that Jaggers told the school resource officer at New Albany High School that his white Toyota Corolla was taken by a female and left in Louisville. The Louisville Metro Police Department said they could not locate any reports being made where LMPD recovered a white Toyota Corolla with plates that match Jaggers'.
Surveillance video showed the white Toyota Corolla seen near the scene had wheels like the one the suspect drives. The same vehicle was caught on a FLOCK camera at 2:17 a.m. on Lewis and Clark Boulevard.
On Sept. 27 ISP officers drove to Jaggers' residence in New Albany to speak with him. He told officers it was his vehicle at the victim's home. Jaggers also told police he walked to the victim's house with a group of people with the intent for him to fight someone.
Jaggers would not tell police the identities of the other people. He said the group walked up the driveway of the victim's home looking for a fight and he left after no one came out. While walking off, he said he heard an unidentified person fire a gun into the home.
He said several people got into his car and they drove away. He told police his DNA would be found on the gun and that he threw it out of his vehicle in Louisville.
A month later New Albany Police Department School Resource Officer Travis Nelson told ISP Jaggers came to him a week prior and said he was with a group of people who did something bad, but he couldn't talk to him because he was the police.
Since early September at least three teenagers have been arrested in connection to gun crimes in Clark County.
"The trend of children committing crimes is increasing and it needs to stop," Mull said.
He's calling for parents to step up on supervising and checking up on their kids.
"As a prosecutor I see it as an extremely troubling trend that individuals commit violent crimes at younger and younger ages and I've noticed this occurring more frequently in the last 10 years," he said. "As prosecutor I am going to charge younger individuals as adults when the law allows me to, to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law."
That's what's also happening in the case of 16-year-old Louisville boy Keith Lee, who's accused of shooting at an SUV outside of the Jeffersonville Xscape theater on Oct. 16.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Lee is accused of firing two rounds from a Ruger 9MM handgun at an SUV as the driver and passengers rode past the theater that morning.
He's facing attempted murder, a Level 1 felony, as well as criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon, pointing a firearm at another and obstruction of justice, all Level 6 felonies. Lee is also facing a false informing charge and is being charged as an adult in the case.
In that situation, Jeffersonville Police responded to the theater, located at 2800 Gottbrath Parkway, after midnight and found a group of juveniles believed to be involved with the shooting. Two 9MM shell casings were found near the theaters entrance and a 9MM gun was found in the backyard of a home near the theater.
Early in September, a 15-year-old was arrested and charged with robbery with a deadly weapon, pointing a firearm and possession of a firearm on school property after an incident at Jeffersonville High School.
Police said they were called to the student parking area during a football game after the report of an armed robbery. The juvenile victim of the robbery was not harmed and no shots were fired.
The display of a handgun was reported in this incident.
Members of the Jeffersonville Police Department SWAT Team, Crisis Intervention Team, Detective Team and Quick Response Team served an arrest warrant and executed a search warrant on Sept. 6 on Harvard Drive in Clarksville. Police said evidence, including a firearm, was located during the execution of the search warrant and the juvenile was arrested.
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