A fifth person has been charged in connection with the October Harvest Homecoming shooting that left one person dead and two others injured.
Damarius Gardiner Person, 18, of Louisville, was charged with murder on Nov. 26, according to Floyd Circuit Court records. Files related to the case against Gardiner Person were unsealed last week.
According to an affidavit, Gardiner Person drove his girlfriend and 18-year-old Isaiah Page, who faces attempted murder charges in connection with the shooting, to Harvest Homecoming the night of the shooting.
According to court documents, Page was the first to shoot that night. Gardiner Person, Page and others were near the fountain when an “opposing” group of people approached them and the situation became combative.
Gardiner Person told investigators he encouraged Page to shoot while members of the opposing groups yelled at each other. According to court documents, witnesses said they saw Page pull a handgun from his backpack before shooting. The location where Gardiner Person claims Page was shot from also matches where police found several spent .40 caliber bullets near the well.
After the shooting, Gardiner Person left the scene with his girlfriend and Page and drove the group across the river into Kentucky, according to court documents.
While the probable cause affidavit does not indicate that Gardiner Person fired shots, several people are charged with murder in the case because defendants can be charged with murder if someone dies while a crime is being committed in Indiana, Chris said Lane, Floyd County prosecutor, held an earlier news conference.
Gardiner Person entered a preliminary not guilty plea Friday. He is scheduled to return to court for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 6, according to court records.
Lane announced Darius Tuff, 24; Shermichael Smith, 23; and Joshua Smith, 20; Across Louisville, murders, among several other charges, were indicted in a news conference last month.
All three victims of the shooting that left 18-year-old Bryce Gerlach of Corydon dead and a 22-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries were “innocent bystanders.” New Albany Police Chief Todd Bailey previously said.
Contact reporter Killian Baarlaer at [email protected] or @bkillian72 on X.
This article originally appeared in the Louisville Courier Journal: Murder charges filed against new suspect in Harvest Homecoming shooting
