Court documents reveal new details on fitness center shooting
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Recently released court documents have revealed new details on a shooting at a fitness center that left an adult and a juvenile injured.
At 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 6, officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department were dispatched to Vasa Fitness in the 6900 block of West 38th Street on a report of an active shooter. While police were heading the scene, the report became a person shot. After arriving to the scene, officers located two males inside the fitness center who had been shot. One of the males was a 16-year-old, who was shot in the left ankle. He was transported to Riley Hospital. The other male, an adult, was shot in the right calf and transported to Eskenazi Hospital.
Vasa Fitness officials provided IMPD detectives with footage, photos, and scanning information after the incident. There were multiple people in the fitness center working out when the incident occurred. A Hispanic male came into the gym at 8:02 p.m. and scanned in with barcode identification of Steve Valdez, 20, of Indianapolis. He was carrying a black bag and spent some time in the fitness center working out.
A group of three white, possibly Hispanic, males came into the fitness center at 8:11 p.m. They also spent time in the fitness center working out. At 8:26 p.m. the Hispanic male and the group of three started a verbal interaction. The Hispanic male was holding his bag in front of him. The group of three passed a backpack between each other. The Hispanic male walked to the front door of the fitness center with the group of three following and talking to him.
When the Hispanic male reached the exit doors, he pulled out a handgun and started shooting. He shot two innocent bystanders in the gym while the group of three ducked down. One male in the group of three pulled a handgun out of the backpack after the Hispanic male started shooting. The group ran into the recovery and kid care areas. The Hispanic male ran into the Vasa Fitness parking lot and continued to a Taco Bell restaurant across the parking lot. There was also what appeared to be a muzzle flash right before he ran behind the wall at a Taco Bell. The group of three ran out of the kid care area and left the fitness center.
IMPD detectives checked prior police reports for Steve Valdez. Detectives found a phone number matching Valdez’s name, confirmed his date of birth, and matched his BMV photo with the shooter in the fitness center. Detectives found Valdez’s silver 2005 Lexus ES330 in the Vasa Fitness parking lot. The vehicle was towed to Indianapolis Animal Care and Control for a later search warrant.
Investigators collected and photographed multiple pieces of evidence while searching the Fitness Center, including shell casings, bloody towels, bloody shorts, a blood trail into the men’s bathroom, a backpack, and multiple bullet fragments. Investigators also interviewed several witnesses to gather information on the individuals involved in the shooting. Multiple witnesses identified Steve Valdez-Rivera as the shooter.
A witness showed an IMPD detective a cell phone video of a prior argument involving the shooter and a member of the group of three from mid-December. The argument was broken up by a Vasa Fitness employee.
On Feb. 9, the IMPD Violent Crimes Unit was tasked with locating Valdez-Rivera.
On Feb. 12, IMPD officers observed Valdez-Rivera walk into a residence in the 1800 block of Welchwood Circle. Detectives submitted a search warrant for the residence, which was later granted. Valdez-Rivera was taken into custody without incident and transported to the IMPD Aggravated Assault office. While searching Valdez-Rivera’s residence, investigators found an Apple iPhone, multiple handguns, multiple bullets, a backpack, and a firearm magazine.
Detectives attempted to interview Steve Valdez-Rivera. He immediately said he wanted to talk to a lawyer. Valdez-Rivera was arrested for aggravated battery, battery with a deadly weapon, and criminal recklessness. He was taken to the Community Justice Center.
On Feb. 13, detectives conducted an interview with Valdez-Rivera and his lawyer, referred to as EM in the documents. According to EM, there were three others involved in the shooting who had previous confrontations with Valdez-Rivera. EM said they showed guns in the past and have sent Valdez-Rivera threats via text message. Valdez-Rivera was also dating an ex-girlfriend of one of the three others involved.
During the interview, EM provided detectives with social media names and pictures of the three males. All three of the males were members of the gym and had four prior incidents with Valdez-Rivera.
The first incident occurred about 3 months before the shooting. At Vasa Fitness, one of the males followed Valdez-Rivera to the locker room and started him down. Valdez-Rivera said the group started getting aggressive. Valdez-Rivera and his girlfriend left the gym. Valdez-Rivera’s girlfriend told him who they were and one of the males later texted threats to Valdez-Rivera.
Three more incidents occurred between the first incident and the shooting. All of the incidents involved Valdez-Rivera and males from the group going back and forth before leaving the gym. The fifth incident was the shooting. Valdez-Rivera thought the incidents happened because he was dating the ex-girlfriend of a male in the group. Valdez-Rivera identified all of the individuals involved in the incidents in photographs provided by detectives.
