Lafayette homicide suspect dead in Tennessee

A man wanted in connection with Tuesday's homicide death of 32-year-old Wesley Ehrie is believed dead after a Thursday night shootout with law enforcement in Tennessee.

Lafayette police Lt. Brad Hayworth, who is the lead investigator in Ehrie's homicide death, said during a press conference Friday morning that 34-year-old Shane David Townsley of Flora is the sole suspect in the case.

No one else is believed to be directly involved in Ehrie's shooting death, but the investigation is ongoing, Hayworth said.

Authorities in Tennessee were alerted that Townsley might be headed to Cookeville, a city about 80 miles east of Nashville, where he has family, Hayworth noted.

He said law enforcement attempted to make contact with a man matching Townsley's description, and a shootout ensued, killing the suspect.

Final identification of the suspect is pending an autopsy, he noted.

Townsley was identified by name as a homicide suspect from Indiana who led authorities on a chase before his death in Overton County, Tennessee, according to local news outlet WKRN.

Josh DeVine, a spokesman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, confirmed that special agents are investigating the death.

It's not clear whether Townsley was killed by police or died of a self-inflicted wound.

DeVine said in a statement that deputies tried to stop a vehicle about 3 p.m. Central time Thursday, when its driver produced a semi-automatic rifle and fired several rounds at an officer's vehicle, narrowly missing the deputy.

The suspect fled on foot into the woods. He was followed by SWAT officers from three law enforcement agencies.

He reportedly then broke into a home, where he held a couple at gunpoint and demanded the keys to their pickup truck, in which he fled the scene.

Trying to stop him, officers fired at the suspect, and he crashed into a ravine, where he appears to have died from a gunshot wound, according to DeVine's statement.

Forensic scientists are processing multiple scenes in the area and will turn their findings over to the district attorney general for review.

Benton County connection

Indiana State Police Sgt. Kim Riley said Townsley also was wanted in connection with an April 12 burglary in Benton County.

A homeowner near Oxford was shot in the leg that day while trying to defend himself and his wife from intruders.

Riley told the Journal & Courier on April 20 — the day before Ehrie was shot dead — that ISP investigators were following up on leads in the Benton County home invasion case.

Troopers expected to either make an arrest or ask the public to help identify a suspect within three days, he said.

Warrants to arrest Townsley and his alleged accomplice, Jennifer Ellison, were issued Wednesday, according to Benton Circuit Court records.

Ellison, who faces up to 40 years for the lead charge of residential burglary causing serious bodily injury, was arrested without incident Thursday in Lafayette and booked into Benton County Jail, where she's being held on $60,000 bond.

Hayworth said law enforcement officials in Tennessee were attempting to execute the Benton County warrant to apprehend Townsley when the fatal shootout ensued.

The injured Benton County homeowner was sent home from the hospital to recover, Riley said. The bullet had entered and exited the man's leg without getting lodged anywhere, he noted.

Townsley wore a black ski mask during the heist and drove a white pickup truck he borrowed from a friend, according to a probable cause affidavit prepared by ISP Detective Master Trooper Timothy Kendall.

A witness spotted Townsley in the Warren County town of Kramer about 16 miles south of the crime scene shortly after the armed burglary, Kendall states in his affidavit, noting that Townsley was observed using pliers to pull the license plate off the vehicle.

Investigators also were able to retrieve photos of Townsley from a cellphone left behind at the burglarized home.

Michael Borders connection

When officers descended Tuesday on the chaotic scene where Ehrie was shot to death Tuesday, they spotted 25-year-old Michael Borders in a gray hoodie fleeing the scene with a blue duffel bag.

They detained him for questioning then arrested him on drug dealing and possession allegations.

The bag contained 14 pounds of synthetic marijuana, 2.5 grams of methamphetamine, plastic baggies, scales and several pieces of drug paraphernalia, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The Tippecanoe County Prosecutor's Office secured a 72-hour extension Thursday, giving until 2 p.m. Tuesday to file charges.

Bond was raised Thursday to $25,000 surety plus $2,500 cash.

Borders' sister, Tonya Crabtree, said the drugs were not her brother's. He fled the scene, she said, in hopes of keeping his friends from getting in trouble.

Crabtree said she and her brother's uncle, Dennis Borders, obtained confirmation Thursday night from Lafayette police that the suspect in Ehrie's homicide had been killed in Tennessee.

"Now we have two people dead that's involved in this heinous crime," she said.

Dennis Borders said the entire situation is sad for everyone involved.

"I feel sad for the loss of Shane's family, you know," he said of the homicide suspect believed dead.

Hayworth said there's no new evidence tying the drugs found in Michael Borders' possession to the homicide.

The confrontation that erupted into a fatal shooting centered on a property dispute over a television set, he said Wednesday and affirmed Thursday.

Tippecanoe Superior Court 4 records list Townsley as a former Lafayette resident.

After hunting down 37-year-old William "Bill" Morrissey, who was wanted for questioning in connection with the homicide, Lafayette police determined that he had no involvement in Ehrie's death.

Hayworth said Morrissey wasn't even present at the apartment when Ehrie was shot.

Unusual violence

Lafayette police Chief Patrick Flannelly said during Friday's press conference that law enforcement agencies in Tippecanoe County collaborate well and allocate resources quickly and appropriately when confronted with cases such as this.

"Fortunately for us, we live in a very safe community," he said. "Acts of violence like this are few and far between, but when they do occur, they are the highest priority."

Numbers compiled by Tippecanoe County Deputy Coroner Matt Wietbrock indicate that the county saw four homicide deaths last year, including the killing of 21-year-old teaching assistant Andrew Boldt in a basement classroom at Purdue University on Jan. 21, 2014.

Additionally, a fifth death was declared a homicide by the Marion County Prosecutor's Office after 14-month-old Skyler Foster died July 22, 2014, of a traumatic head injury she sustained in Lafayette.

Flannelly said the effective response exhibited by law enforcement in response to this week's homicide was only possible because of the dedicated professionals who responded to the scene of the shooting, investigated the crime and communicated with other agencies.

Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington credited those who live near Ninth and Salem streets, where Ehrie was shot, for working with police and providing information.

"It doesn't always come in in the order you want it, but it came in, and that's a key to making all our communities safe," he said.

Harrington said authorities are thankful none of the police involved in the Tennessee shootout had been seriously hurt.

"Our sympathies to all the families that have had to suffer the consequences of this act and what happened," Flannelly added.

Homicide deaths in Tippecanoe County since January 2014:

-- Andrew Boldt, basement classroom shooting at Purdue University, Jan. 21, 2014

-- Mark Brummitt, hit-and-run car wreck along Union Street, Feb. 18, 2014

-- Skylar Foster, 14-month-old girl with traumatic head injury, July 22, 2014

-- Rick Couch, bludgeoning at home on North 16th Street, Aug. 20, 2014

-- Primitivo Flores, restaurant employee stabbed in an apartment, Dec. 25, 2014

-- Wesley Ehrie, shooting at Ninth and Salem streets, April 21, 2015