Michael Anthony Adams

michael.adams@indystar.com

When an Indianapolis Metropolitan police officer asked no one in particular who'd just shot the man lying near a pump at an east side gas station Wednesday afternoon, James Holder spoke up.

"I'm the shooter," Holder told the officer, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.

The officer had been on routine patrol near the intersection of 34th Street and North Sherman Drive when he heard the shots. Three at first, court documents said, then three more after a "slight pause."

Holder, 27, had a gun on his hip when the officer showed up at the Shell gas station around 3:30 p.m. After admitting he was the shooter, court documents said, police collected the weapon and detained Holder for questioning.

Meanwhile, Michael Johnson, the man Holder claimed to have shot in court documents, was bleeding out on the pavement, his black Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses propped up on his forehead.

As Johnson, 29, lay dying, police recovered a handgun from the front right pocket of his shorts, court documents said.

The gun turned out to be a toy airsoft pistol.

Holder, according to the affidavit, told police Johnson had robbed him.

Video captured by surveillance cameras shows Holder and Johnson walking out of the gas station together before getting into Holder's car, court documents said. After a few minutes pass, Johnson gets out and begins walking away. Then Holder exits the vehicle, pulls out his gun and shoots Johnson in the back.

Johnson, documents said, fell to the ground, tried to get up, but then fell again. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

He was the second man fatally shot in Indianapolis Wednesday.

Downtown, at the homicide office, Holder "admitted to shooting" Johnson, court documents said. He "claimed self-defense after he was robbed" of about $155 by Johnson.

Holder has been charged in Johnson's death. He is being held, without bond, in the Marion County Jail.

Call IndyStar reporter Michael Anthony Adams at (317) 444-6123. Follow him on Twitter: @michaeladams317.

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