17-year-old Richmond youth charged in child’s shooting receives March trial date

RICHMOND, Ind. — A 17-year-old Richmond youth charged in the shooting of a child has received a March 17 trial date in Wayne Superior Court 1.

Tave’on Chappell is charged with dangerous possession of a firearm, a Level 5 felony carrying up to six years in prison.

According to an affidavit, Richmond police were notified on the afternoon of Dec. 5 that an 11-year-old girl had been shot in the face.

The shooting reportedly took place at a home along East 18th Street.

The court document said Chappell and four juveniles, including the victim, were at the home at the time.

More: 11-year-old Richmond girl in stable condition and communicating after last week’s shooting

One of those juveniles told police that Chappell that afternoon had a handgun when they visited the home of another friend.

Later they went to Chappell’s home, said the witness, who indicated three children there were being “rambunctious” and “somewhat play-fighting” with Chappell.

The teen said he was looking at TikTok videos, apparently on a cellphone, when he heard a gunshot.

He said he looked up to see the handgun falling to the floor, and the 11-year-old girl holding her face.

She was later reported to be “bleeding everywhere.”

The witness said Chappell said, “Oh, no,” and then carried the injured girl downstairs.

An adult in the house then drove the gunshot victim, along with Chappell and two other juveniles, to Reid Hospital.

The shooting victim was later transferred to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.

When the scene of the shooting was searched, Richmond police found in an upstairs bedroom a .380-caliber handgun and a shell casing.

The affidavit also indicated that one of the other juveniles told police that the youth who gave an investigator a statement, not Chappell, had possession of the firearm when it discharged.

At least two of the juveniles in the house at the time were Chappell’s siblings, according to the court document.

The document did not address who the handgun belonged to.

An accompanying document indicated at a hearing in January in Wayne Juvenile Court said Chappell was “adjudicated to have violated the crime of dangerous possession of a firearm.”

In the wake of the felony gun charge being filed against Chappell on Dec. 6, charging documents and the probable cause affidavit were initially sealed and not available for public review. An online case summary does not appear to reflect that a request was made to seal the documents, or that a judge took any action to seal them.

After a request from the Palladium-Item to reconsider the sealing of the documents, Wayne Superior Court 1 Judge Charles Todd Jr. this week ordered that the documents be unsealed.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: March trial set for Richmond youth charged in child’s shooting

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