Docs: IMPD bodycam captures confession of suspect in shooting outside day care
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A man suspected of fatally shooting the mother of his child outside of a day care admitted to the shooting, according to court documents acquired by News 8.
Orlando Mitchell, 33, has been charged for the murder of 32-year-old Krystal Walton on Sept. 16. On Monday afternoon, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges of murder, invasion of privacy violating a “no contact” order, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a domestic batterer against Mitchell. Mitchell has an initial court appearance on Tuesday afternoon.
I-Team 8 is finding that this type of case involving domestic violence is more common than most think.
“A history of strangulation indicates that this person is 750% more likely to be killed by their partner, and specifically to be killed by a firearm,” said Caryn Burton, the homicide reduction strategies coordinator for the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “We see that that system had failed her and very clearly had created some barriers that had created some additional risk.”
Walton was shot shortly after dropping off her kids at the Charity Church & Child Care center at the corner of Holmes Avenue and 10th Street around 7:30 a.m. Sept. 16. One witness who spoke to police said she was aware domestic issues between Walton and Mitchell included a restraining order and that Mitchell was no longer allowed in the day care due to the restraining order.
Around three hours after the shooting, police found Mitchell a few miles east of the day care at a bus stop near 10th and Delaware streets. According to the court documents, a person got on an IndyGo bus and told the driver that he had just called 911 because another man at the stop, later identified as Mitchell, admitted to killing his girlfriend. The IndyGo driver also called 911 and provided a description.
When Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers arrived they said they found Mitchell holding a rifle. IMPD said two officers opened fire when Mitchell refused to drop the weapon, striking him in the leg.
According to the documents, body-worn cameras used by IMPD picked up Mitchell making confessional statements regarding the shooting.
“I shot that b****,” Mitchell is alleged to have said while being treated after being shot by police. ““I shot that b**** in the face!”
According to Burton, there were 77 domestic violence related deaths in Indiana just this past year. She says that number is under-reported.
“Those are cases that we can positively identify. We don’t have a good collection process,” Burton said. “We typically are either informed by our programs that we work with, our shelters and our advocacy programs. We do a lot of media watching and get that information through the media. But we don’t have a good collection process.”
Mitchell took a plea deal and received probation for a previous domestic violence case involving Walton in March 2021. A warrant for his arrest had been issued for Mitchell the day prior to the shooting for a residential entry and invasion of privacy case also involving Walton.
Police investigating the case also spoke to Mitchell’s mother after she arrived at the day care following the shooting.
“Orlando made recent threats and told his mother, ‘If he couldn’t see his son, she wasn’t gonna be in his life either,’” court documents state. She “has not spoken to her son in almost a month because he stated he was going to kill the victim and make it a ‘murder suicide.’”
Burton says the blame will always rest with the person who killed Walton; however, she believes the system itself has more work to do to protect victims. That work includes finding a way to better enforce a criminal statue called the “Mandate to Prevent Further Violence.” It essentially takes away a person’s access to guns.
“There is no follow-through. There’s nobody that says, ‘Hey, you have this order. You’ve had this order for 30 days. Now, we need to make sure you’ve turned in these firearms.’”
Mitchell was scheduled for in court at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Marion Superior Court 29.
