Man charged on his 19th birthday with Canal Walk shooting

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The gunman who investigators connected to a shooting along the downtown Indianapolis canal nearly three weeks ago has been formally charged with aggravated battery and being a marijuana and meth dealer, court documents show.

The early Saturday morning shooting happened just before 3:30 a.m. June 21 on the Canal Walk, injuring a juvenile and two men. The people shot have not been publicly identified.

As News 8 has previously reported, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said the shooting involved a disturbance at a gym along the canal. Bullet casings from multiple weapons, including a rifle, and gunfire damage to multiple homes littered area after the shooting.

Anthony Ford was formally charged Wednesday on his 19th birthday, according to court documents shared Thursday from the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. He faces two mid-level felony counts of aggravated battery, a low-level felony count of battery by means of a deadly weapon, and a misdemeanor charge of dangerous possession of a firearm.

Detective Adam Ahmad of IMPD led the investigation, using video evidence and witness statements to identify Ford as the shooter. Despite Ford wearing a face mask, witnesses and friends of the three people shot recognized him from the past in school together.

Investigators also learned that Ford had a prior conviction for dangerous possession of a firearm, which led to the gun charge filed against him.

Ford was arrested on the west side of Indianapolis sometime after charges were filed Monday in Marion Superior Court 28. Police say he had methamphetamine, ecstasy, crack cocaine and marijuana on him during the arrest.

Ford’s bond was sent at $150,000, but a note on his online court record says, if the bond is paid, he’s to be held for another agency.

In a separate filing earlier in Marion Superior Court 28, Ford faced a high-level felony charge of dealing in methamphetamine; a mid-level felony count of possession of methamphetamine; a low-level felony count of possession of cocaine; a low-level felony count of dealing in marijuana; and a misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance.

The two cases have been consolidated into one, online court records show.

Ford was one of two people arrested in connection with the Canal Walk shooting.

Cortez Starks, 18, of Indianapolis, was charged June 25 in Marion Superior Court 32 with a misdemeanor count of unlawful carrying a handgun. Starks on Thursday night remained in the Marion County jail on a $300 cash bond.

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