Mark Alesia

IndyStar

A fistfight at a campground near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway quickly escalated early Saturday morning, leaving a 25-year-old Kokomo man and father dead of gunshot wounds.

Avory Johnson, 19, Indianapolis, faces a preliminary charge of murder in the slaying of Max Levine, according to the Speedway Police Department. Johnson was taken to the Marion County Arrestee Processing Center.

Levine was unresponsive when found by police with gunshot wounds at Coke Lot 1 C, near West 30th and Georgetown Road, shortly after they received the call at 2:09 a.m. that a shooting had occurred. Levine was pronounced dead at the scene.

"We heard pop, pop, pop," said John Morris, 27, of Indianapolis. "And I said, 'Those are gunshots.' And I thought it was just someone showing off."

Reaction from fans Saturday to the tragedy was mixed.

"I've come every year for 12 to14 years," said Jennifer Coy, an Indianapolis resident. "The kids are getting rowdier and rowdier -- young and dumb, they don't control their alcohol."

Coy said she feels less safe now and thinks it will be the last year she camps out before the Indianapolis 500 race.

However, many fans seemed unaffected by the news. It looked like a typical day before the 500-Mile-Race with people drinking and relaxing around the racetrack.

Levine was a young father with a 3-year-old daughter. His grandmother, Linda Bickel, said he had just started training as an apprentice carpenter and had formerly managed a convenience store. He was a football player at Kokomo High School.

"We've had people who loved him coming in and out of here all morning," she said. "He was that kind of kid."

Levine's mother, Janice Bickel, said her son went to Carb Day with "about 20 or 30" friends from Kokomo. The group, she said, had RVs and tents for camping.

Lt. Trent Theobald, a spokesman for the Speedway Police Department, said it was the first homicide near IMS on the weekend of the Indianapolis 500 in his 16 years with the agency.

Theobald said "two groups had a verbal altercation and one thing led to another" before the shooting.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway released a statement Saturday saying that the investigation by local police is continuing and that they are cooperating "to help in any way that we can."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those involved in this incident," the statement said.

On the day of the Indianapolis 500 in 2012, a fight led to a man being shot at 1 a.m. on the 2600 block of Georgetown Road. The victim was in critical condition but he survived.

Theobald said law enforcement will not change its plans in the wake of the homicide.

"It doesn't matter how many police officers you have in that area, you'll always have alcohol-fueled incidents," Theobald said. "That's a large area. It's a multi-agency effort. ... Unfortunately, we still have fights and this fight led to a shooting. The response time was faster than usual, which is why we were able to find witnesses, which led to the arrest."

Morris said the violence in Speedway didn't faze him, because he's used to hearing about such incidents around his Northeastside neighborhood.

"You know (stuff) happens. It's just unfortunate that it happened here."

Star reporter Brian Eason contributed to this story.

Call reporter Mark Alesia at (317) 444-6311. Follow him on Twitter: @markalesia.