INDIANAPOLIS — On Monday 35-year-old Donnie Sanders was killed after being shot during a break from his shift at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Elijah Hayes, 25, has been charged with murder in connection with the crime.
A witness told detectives he saw a person walk up to Sanders and say “you look familiar” before shooting him at point blank range, court documents say.
The suspect was noticed by the witness to be wearing dark clothing and a face mask.
Officers with IMPD responded to the scene around 9:45 p.m. and began collecting evidence as Sanders was pronounced dead at the scene.
During surveillance videos, the man later to be identified as the suspect, is seen with a backpack around the Indiana Convention Center.
He is seen again near the loading docks, but without the backpack.
According to court documents, investigators found the backpack under a truck at the loading docks. Inside was a Glock handgun with a magazine inserted and Hayes' forklift operator ID.
During the investigation, the shift supervisor at Lucas Oil claimed that Sanders was not the only employee that was missing following the incident. Another employee – that turned out to be suspect’s brother – was also missing.
The brother later returned to the scene with the Lyft rideshare app open on his phone. He claimed to police that he was simply messing with the app, according to court documents.
The suspect’s brother is not named nor is charged with anything at the time of this report.
During an interview with police, the suspect initially spoke about the incident, but when asked about the backpack he declined to comment.
-
‘13 FIRES’: One family’s story of resilience amid turmoil along Indiana Avenue
“13 FIRES” by Curtis K. Rogers tells the story of one family's resiliency while living along Indiana Avenue in 1956.Dominated by No.2 Ohio State for years, No. 5 Indiana has a chance for payback
If Indiana beats Ohio State and closes out the season with a win over Purdue, the Hoosiers will be in the Big Ten championship for the first time since the inception of the game in 2011.Preparing for the political chatter around the table on Thanksgiving
IU psychology professor Edward Hirt offers insight on navigating through this first big family get-together, since an historic and polarizing election.No. 16 Indiana remains unbeaten with 69-58 win over UNC Greensboro
Myles Rice scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half, freshman Bryson Tucker finished with a season-high 14 and No. 16 Indiana got past UNC Greensboro 69-58 on Thursday night.