Four shot dead in row over stimulus check

The man shot everyone at the home and took the money, said the police

The argument broke out over the federal Covid relief check given under President Joe Biden’s economic relief package (AP)

The Indianapolis mass shooting on Saturday in which three adults and a child were killed started over a row about the federal Covid stimulus check, police records show.

The man, Malik Halfacre, 25, is accused of fatally shooting down four people, including a 7-year-old girl after he demanded a portion of his girlfriend’s stimulus check.

“Mr Halfacre admitted to shooting all of the deceased individuals in the house,” the affidavit quoted the police as saying. Mr Halfacre and his girlfriend “were arguing because he wanted some of her stimulus check,” it said.

Mr Halfacre was arrested on Sunday and had been preliminarily charged with four counts of murder, attempted murder and robbery.

According to media reports, a woman with gunshot wounds told the police that her boyfriend — Mr Halfacre — has taken their 6-month-old child Malia Halfacre. She directed the police to the house where four more people were found dead.

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The child was, however, found unharmed at the home of Mr Halfacre’s sister, who confirmed to the police that her brother had confessed to the shooting, according to a New York Times report.

She also told the police that he “knocked on the door, came inside and dropped off the baby and all the baby’s stuff before leaving.”

He was arrested from his friend’s home where he was hiding in the attic.

Malik Halfacre (AP)

He reportedly told investigators that after “everyone was shot, he took the money.”

The case is still under investigation and Mr Halfacre would not be formally charged before Thursday. The incident happened in a house on North Randolph Street. He is due to appear in court on 18 March.

Those killed in the shooting were Anthony Johnson, 35, Dequan Moore, 23, Tomeeka Brown, 44, and Eve Moore, 7.

The argument that erupted between the couple was over the $1.9tn (£1.4tn) economic relief package that was signed into law by Joe Biden after it was passed by Congress. The relief package extends to unemployment benefits and child tax credit for families apart from $1,400 stimulus cheques.