EVANSVILLE — A 19-year-old is in custody while two other teenage suspects remain at large after a man was fatally shot Tuesday evening outside an Evansville movie theater during what investigators say was a robbery disguised as a drug deal.
A fast-moving investigation led authorities to arrest Kardae Langley, 19, of Evansville, on preliminary charges of murder and robbery. Langley is being held at the Vanderburgh County jail without bond and has yet to appear in court.
Two other men identified by investigators as suspects — Deshawndre Brown, 19, and Pierce Butler, 18, both of Evansville — had not been taken into custody as of Wednesday, the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office announced.
Officials have not released the victim’s name.
According to sworn arrest affidavits filed in Vanderburgh County Circuit Court, Langley spoke to detectives following his arrest and allegedly described how a marijuana-deal-turned robbery ended in gunfire. Langley named Brown as the shooter, the affidavits state.
Prosecutors charged all three men with murder under Indiana’s felony murder statute, which holds every participant in certain violent felonies — including robbery — legally responsible for any killing that results, regardless of who fired the weapon. Under that theory, Langley and Butler face the same murder charge as the alleged shooter by virtue of their participation in the robbery. Brown faces an additional murder count alleging the killing was intentional.
Wednesday afternoon, Vanderburgh County Sheriff Noah Robinson called on Brown and Butler to turn themselves in.
“We don’t like having to go after folks like this because it ups the danger for everybody,” Robinson said. “Don’t drag you’re family members into this; don’t drag any more of your friends into this. Go ahead and turn yourselves in, and we will address the issue through the proper channels.”
A deal-turned robbery ends in violence
Deputies and Evansville police responded to shots-fired reports at AMC Theatres, located at 5600 Pearl Drive, at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday. Near a wooded embankment at the eastern edge of the AMC parking lot, police found a man inside a black SUV suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
It marked Evansville’s third homicide – among at least a half-dozen shootings – in less than a month. On March 24, a 16-year-old allegedly shot and killed 23-year-old Trey Leavell following a domestic dispute, according to police, and on March 30 a shooting in the 1200 block of South Lincoln Park Drive left 25-year-old Keshawn Almond dead.
Robinson said investigators worked quickly to piece together what happened outside the AMC. Detectives recovered spent shell casings from the parking lot and began tracking down a silver Lexus reportedly seen leaving the area using Evansville’s sprawling network of vehicle-tracking Flock Safety cameras.
The AI-powered cameras gave investigators an early lead, tracing the Lexus to a restaurant parking lot on Evansville’s East Side, Deputy Roman Weinzapfel wrote in a sworn affidavit. When police stopped the vehicle, they found Langley to be its sole occupant and took him into custody.
According to the Weinzapfel’s affidavit, Langley said he, Brown and Butler had arranged to meet the victim at the AMC to buy marijuana vape cartridges — a transaction the victim had previously conducted with Brown. Langley told investigators he drove the group to the theater for the deal.
Before the victim arrived, however, Langley reportedly told detectives that Brown announced his intention to rob the victim rather than pay for the cartridges. Brown was carrying what Langley believed to be an AR-style pistol — described in the affidavit as a shortened, pistol-configured variant of an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
Surveillance footage obtained from the theater allegedly showed Langley’s silver Lexus parked alongside the victim’s Dodge Durango. According to the sheriff’s office, Langley, Brown and Butler could be seen exiting the Lexus and entering the victim’s SUV. It’s at that point that Langley said Brown instructed him to begin transferring boxes of vape cartridges from the Durango to the Lexus.
Langley reportedly said that while he was outside with the rear hatch open, Brown and the victim began arguing over the robbery. Then, the situation spiraled out of control.
“Langley said the Durango suddenly drove off and drove in several circles in the parking lot,” Weinzapfel wrote. “Sometime during this, Langley heard two gunshots from inside the Durango. Both (Brown) and (Butler) exited the moving vehicle and Langley said both got into his car and they fled the scene.”
As they drove away, Langley told investigators, Butler asked Brown why he had opened fire. Brown allegedly replied that the victim was at fault and that he had made a mistake, according to Langley’s account. Langley allegedly said he paid Brown $500 for a portion of the stolen vapes before dropping Brown and Butler off on the southeast side of the city.
Sheriff calls killing a ‘senseless tragedy’
Neither Langley, Brown nor Butler appeared to have a serious criminal history in Indiana. A search of state court records turned up a handful of traffic-related cases filed against Langley and Butler in recent years, and Brown pleaded guilty in 2025 to possession of marijuana after administrators at Harrison High School confiscated cannabis from his backpack along with a THC vape, court records state.
Citing his lack of a criminal history, a judge agreed to dismiss the case should Brown stay out of trouble for one year — a period that would have ended on June 4.
Robinson called the shooting a senseless tragedy.
“What makes this even more sobering is that the choices made that night didn’t just end one young life, they destroyed several,” Robinson said in a statement. “These suspects had futures of their own, and they threw them away in a moment of greed and violence. There are no winners here, only families left to pick up the pieces.”
The investigation remains active. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office online at vanderburghsheriff.org/tip-submit or by calling 812-421-6297.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: What we know about Evansville movie theater homicide investigation
Reporting by Houston Harwood, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
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