INDIANAPOLIS -- Marion County prosecutors refiled charges Wednesday against the suspect in a fatal 2016 shooting outside a northwest side barber shop.
Antonio Lee Allen Sr., now 42, was originally charged on April 22, 2016, with the murder a week earlier of 38-year-old David Sanders outside the Sharper Image barber shop located at 4022 North High School Road.
Police were initially called to a location across the street from the barber shop, in the 6200 block of Gateway Drive, where Sanders’ body was found covered by a piece of automotive carpet. An autopsy later determined he died of a gunshot to the head.
MAP | 2016 Indianapolis Homicides
Witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots and seeing a black male fleeing the scene in a white Camry. The Camry was eventually traced by police to Allen, who said that, although it was his son’s car, he was driving it.
Allen reportedly told police he and his son had been at the barber shop when they ran into Sanders, who he knew as “Bang.” Allen told police he and Sanders had been “beefing,” and that they had fought – but denied shooting Sanders.
Police questioned both Allen and his son in the shooting, but it was Allen who was ultimately charged with murder in April 2016.
In July 2016, though, prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the charges with intent to refile because Allen was being held in federal custody as one of 14 defendants in a firearm and drug dealing case.
A federal indictment filed in the case charged Allen with possession of methamphetamine and fentanyl with intent to distribute, as well as possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon.
In May 2017, Allen pleaded guilty to the meth and firearm charges and was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison. Bureau of Prisons records show he is currently serving that sentence at the Ashland Federal Correctional Facility in Ashland, Kentucky.
With Allen’s federal case resolved, murder charges in Sanders’ death were refiled in Marion County Criminal Court 1 on Wednesday. A judge issued a warrant the same day calling for Allen to be transported back to custody in Marion County while awaiting trial.
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