Teens accused of ambushing friend

Three teens lured a 17-year-old into an ambush and shot him to death Sunday on the Eastside, prosecutors say.

Kaylend Gilbert, Jalen Heffner and Terrence Richardson, all 17, were formally charged with murder in adult court Thursday in the shooting death of Steven Kendall II.

Kendall died shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday of a single .380-caliber gunshot to the chest that pierced his lung, liver and heart, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Marion Superior Court.

The shooting happened behind the New York Express convenience store, 2801 E. New York St. The shooting and events that led up to it were captured on several video surveillance cameras, according to documents.

Each suspect played a role in Kendall's killing, prosecutors say.

Gilbert, prosecutors say, used Facebook to arrange a meeting with Kendall at School 15, 2302 E. Michigan St.

Video cameras show Heffner allegedly giving a handgun to Richardson while the two were inside the New York Express store at about 1:56 p.m.

The four teens were behind the store two minutes later, when prosecutors say another video captured Richardson as he pulled the handgun and fired the fatal shot.

Gilbert may have been grazed by the bullet, according to the documents. Video shows him shaking his hand in pain immediately after the shot was fired. Police found blood drops leading away from the scene. Gilbert also dropped his cellphone. Police found the phone near a spent bullet casing not far from the victim's body.

When Gilbert was arrested Tuesday, prosecutors say he had a large bandage on his hand and was carrying painkillers in his brother's name. Police found emergency room paperwork, also in Gilbert's brother's name, diagnosing him with a fractured bone in his hand.

All four had frequent run-ins with the law and were involved in "numerous incidents" together, prosecutors said.

Richardson was wearing a home detention ankle bracelet, which showed he left home at 10:16 a.m. Sunday — supposedly to go to church.

The radio signal from Richardson's bracelet was detected from 12:59 p.m. to 1:47 p.m. by a bracelet and other monitoring equipment assigned to a probationer who lived about 600 feet from the convenience store, prosecutors say.

The monitoring equipment showed Richardson returned home at 2:11 p.m.

Police went to Richardson's home on Tuesday, where they arrested him and Gilbert. Inside a locked room that officers forced open, police recovered the clothing Richardson was seen wearing in the video, including a white T-shirt with an apparent bloodstain.

They also found ammunition and an empty box for a .380-caliber handgun, prosecutors said.

In October 2014, Heffner and his mother were featured in an Indianapolis Star story about single mothers who were trying to raise their children in some of the city's most crime-ridden neighborhoods.

Jalen Heffner had been getting in scrapes with the law since age 12, Levia Heffner told The Star.

She said her son was 15 when he was arrested for carrying a handgun and running with a street gang. Levia Heffner told a judge: "If my son did this, I want him locked up."

Jalen Heffner served three months in detention for that case.

"He can't see that I'm fighting for his life," Heffner told The Star last year. "I don't just want to lose him on the streets. There's nothing there except jail and death. I don't just want to watch him die."

Jalen Heffner, then 16, appeared to be getting the message. He was a junior at Tech High School and getting A's and B's in his classes.

He told The Star that at least 15 of his friends had been killed; two were close cousins and all were about his age, he said.

Jalen Heffner and his mother completed a Connect and Communicate program at the Peace Learning Center, which focuses on preventing violence through education and counseling and provides financial help to parents.

"It's a struggle right now in the city," said Stacy Robinson, Peace Learning Center's director of development and communications.

Robinson declined to talk specifically about Heffner and his mother, but she said the center is working to reach children earlier by partnering with four IPS schools in some of the city's most at-risk neighborhoods.

"If we can start working with kids as young as possible," she said, "all the research shows the final results in their lives are going to be much more positive."

Call Star reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @vicryc.

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