EVANSVILLE, INDIANA — At the time of writing, the police are investigating this incident as an act of self defense. They are withholding many details of what they know until the investigation moves further along. At the moment no charges have been filed against the shooter. Here is what we know so far.
The shooting took place at sportsman’s Grille & Billiards around 12:45 a.m. Sunday. Of-duty officers working at the bar found Laren Hall, 23, shot in the alley behind the establishment. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Via Courier and Press
Multiple witnesses at the scene reported seeing a group of five or six men sprint toward two men at the back of the bar. One witness, an employee on break at the restaurant, reported seeing a man fall to the ground and being beaten up before shots were fired.
Police believe Hall was one of the men involved in the alleged assault. Surveillance video at nearby businesses corroborate witness accounts of the events leading up to Hall’s death, Cullum said, but there is no video of either assault or shooting.
When police arrived, the shooter was still on scene. He was disarmed and detained without incident. The police noted that the shooter had multiple injuries to his face. Another man that was with him also had injuries to his face.
From these few facts we can see a picture of what happened starting to emerge. It would seem that Hall and a group of four or five other men went behind the bar and mob-style attacked their two victims, violently beating them. During the attack, one of the victims pulled out a firearm and fired a shot at one of the attackers; which happened to be Hall.
Once shots rang out it would seem the other attackers ran off and left their friend lying in the alley with a gunshot wound. This would be the last time they would ever see him alive. The shooter stayed on scene until police arrived and gave up his firearm and went peacefully with them.
Although there is no footage of the actual assault, nearby cameras did pick up images of this group of men charging to the alley behind the bar where the fatal shooting took place. A Witness on hand also corroborated the attack. This evidence along with the injuries sustained by the shooter is why police are investigating this as a self defense shooting and have yet to press charges.
The actions the shooter took after the fatal shooting is a good model of what to do if you are ever involved in a such an incident. Wait for the police (call them if no one else has), follow their orders peacefully, surrender your firearm, allow the police to conduct their investigation, and give them all the details of what happened. Actions you take between the time of the shooting and when police arrive could affect the trustworthiness of your story and bring suspicion to the event.
There are still many facts we don’t know, and the family of the fatally shot man is refuting the current narrative. Because the investigation is ongoing, the police have not provided much information to the family, and because of this they are obviously upset. They are also upset that the shooters name has not been released and that he has not been arrested.
This is the second son of the family that has been killed during a shooting.