INDIANAPOLIS -- Police have arrested a man on charges of armed robbery and felony murder in connection to the death of one of his alleged accomplices during a botched home break-in last year.
Raymond Crabtree, 46, was taken into custody on Friday in connection with the fatal shooting of 30-year-old Tarial Moncrief on Nov. 4, 2017.
Moncrief’s body was found shortly after 9 a.m. in the 1500 block of Nelson Avenue by a 13-year-old boy who was riding his bike.
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While at the scene, officers were approached by a man who said he was looking for his brother, Tarial Moncrief. He also said his cousin was at Eskenazi Hospital with a gunshot wound.
Hours earlier, IMPD officers had been called to the same block of Nelson Avenue for a report of an attempted residential entry.
Officers learned that sometime between midnight and 1 a.m., three men had attempted to force their way into a home in the 1500 block of Nelson Avenue. One of those men had a handgun, which he pointed at the male resident of the home.
When the men began kicking the door in an attempt to break it in, the man’s wife picked up a handgun and fired multiple times at the door. The men outside then began firing shots through the door in return.
Through witness testimony and surveillance video, police say they were able to connect Moncrief and a juvenile accomplice to the attempted break-in. They also identified the third suspect as Raymond Crabtree. Crabtree was located at Methodist Hospital, where he had been transferred from an out-of-county hospital after being admitted under a fake name for a gunshot wound.
Police said Crabtree claimed he shot himself in the arm accidentally, and then asked for a lawyer.
As of Friday evening, Crabtree was being held at the Marion County Jail without bond awaiting an initial hearing.
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