Justin L. Mack, and Jill Disis

IndyStar

UPDATE: An autopsy reveals that three stab wounds to the chest killed a recent Fishers High School graduate Sunday night.

Connor J. Shockley, 18, was stabbed twice in the right side of the chest and once in the center of the chest, according to the Hamilton County Coroner's Office. The death was ruled as a homicide.

Shockley's suspected attacker, Corbin M. Montgomery, 18, was formally charged with murder, according to a news release from the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office. An initial charge of involuntary manslaughter was dropped.

An initial hearing for Montgomery will take place today at 1:15 p.m.

PREVIOUS STORY

A Fishers house party turned violent late Sunday when a fight between recent high school graduates ended in fatal bloodshed.

Connor J. Shockley, 18, was found dead with a knife wound in the yard of a home in the Harrison Green subdivision about 11 p.m.

Corbin M. Montgomery, 18, was arrested shortly after on preliminary charges of murder and involuntary manslaughter.

Monday morning, investigators were still working to make sense of what sparked the violence, and details remained sparse by afternoon.

Meanwhile, family members, friends and residents of the Hamilton County town often lauded for its safety were reeling from the realization that one young man lay dead and another young man was suspected of the crime.

"We came out, and there were (police) dogs and several suspects out on the curb," neighbor Gary Foldenauer, 42, said. "Police were running in and out of yards with rifles. It was scary out here. Things like this don't happen out here.

"At first we were wondering maybe there was a break-in where they caught some guys. My son kind of knew who (Shockley) was at ... Fishers High School. Every house in here has kids just about."

Fishers police spokesman Sgt. Tom Weger said a 911 call reporting a fight brought officers to the area near Harrison Parkway and Lantern Road. The party was held at a home on Waterton Place. Shockley was found at a nearby home on Wooster Court.

But by late Monday morning, almost all signs that anything had happened in the cul-de-sac off of 141st Street had vanished. The squad cars and crime-scene tape that surrounded the rows of two-story homes where Shockley was found were gone. A mother pushed her baby stroller down the sidewalk across the street.

Many in the subdivision were still curious about the incident that had interrupted an otherwise quiet night just hours before. At least half a dozen cars drove by the home Monday morning. Two bystanders walked to the site where Shockley's body was found but declined to give their names to an Indianapolis Star reporter.

Resident Kelli Tord, 46, said it's a quiet neighborhood. "We've never had a bit of trouble," Tord said.

The Hamilton County coroner's office is working to determine Shockley's cause of death, Weger said. Officials with the coroner's office said the autopsy would not be complete until after 7 p.m. Monday.

"Evidence gathered at the scene and witness accounts lead investigators to believe that the suspect stabbed Shockley with a knife," Weger said in a news release. "Crime scene technicians have recovered the weapon believed to be used during the fight. This case continues to be an open investigation."

Foldenauer said the teen party had been going on in the subdivision for quite some time. He said his son first heard the ruckus.

Shortly after the incident, nearly every resident in the subdivision was looking out the front window or watching from the front porch, he said.

"There was a party in the cul-de-sac next door and a fight happened, and supposedly a kid ran through the yard and was chased," Foldenauer said. "It's crazy."

Shockley was a recent graduate of Fishers High School, where he played football and baseball.

Brian Smith, superintendent of Hamilton Southeastern Schools, said in a statement that the district is offering counseling to students and staff from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the rest of the week.

"We extend our sympathies to all those who knew Connor," Smith said. "It is difficult to come to terms with this kind of sadness and loss."

Fishers Town Manager Scott Fadness said the stabbing is an indicator that the community needs to do more for high school students in town.

"It's a sad situation, especially when you see young people involved in such things," Fadness said. "Going forward I think the community needs to pull together and make sure we are reaching out to our youth."

Tom Montgomery, Corbin Montgomery's father, declined to comment. Corbin Montgomery is a recent graduate of Hamilton Southeastern High School.

Sgt. Weger said Shockley's slaying is the first homicide in nearly 20 years and one of only a few in the town's history. The last homicide was investigated in 1996.

In that case, Kim Schriner was stabbed multiple times and had her skull crushed with a rock in a Fishers model home where she was working on the afternoon of June 30, 1996. She was 30.

Peter N. Georgopulos, also 30 at the time, later turned himself in to the police. He was convicted of murder in September 1997 and sentenced to 65 years in prison.

Before that, John Dell Carr received an 80-year sentence in Hamilton County after pleading guilty in 1992 to the murder of Barbara Foote, 32, at her Fishers home in July 1991. Police said he also kidnapped her 6-year-old daughter, Adrienne Marie Konrad. The girl was found alive in a cornfield near St. Paul the next day. Carr called police and surrendered in Shelbyville.

In February 2013, Location Inc. magazine named Fishers Indiana's safest city and the 19th-safest in the United States.

The publication based its rankings on calculations of the rates of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, murder, forcible rape, armed robbery and aggravated assault in U.S. cities with populations of at least 25,000.

Star reporters Cara Anthony, Summer Ballentine and Kristine Guerra contributed to this story. Call Star reporter Justin L. Mack at (317) 444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.