Murder suspect told police he shot unarmed driver of stolen tow truck
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – On a rainy New Year’s Eve morning, Steven Roe had caught up with the driver of a stolen tow truck he and another male were pursuing in their own truck.
The 32-year-old Roe yelled to the tow truck driver, “Hey, that’s my truck,” and the man inside put his hands up. That’s according to a witness account in a court document.
Next, police think, Roe shot through the windshield of the truck. At least one bullet hit 35-year-old Steven Wooden in the driver’s seat of the stolen tow truck. Wooden did not have a weapon on him, and police did not find a weapon in the tow truck. He died later at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital.
Now, Roe faces a murder charge, filed Thursday by Marion County prosecutors. In the Marion County Jail, Roe waited to stand before a judge for the first time at 8:30 a.m. Friday in Marion Superior Court, Criminal Division 5.
The criminal homicide was the 159th and last criminal homicide recorded in 2018.
About 8:30 a.m. Dec. 31, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers went to the area of Hiatt and Miller streets on a “person shot” call. That’s near the intersection of West Minnesota Street and South Belmont Avenue on the near-southwest side.
Police found Wooden suffering from apparent gunshot wounds in the driver’s seat of the tow truck.
One officer asked Roe, who had his hands in the air, if he knew who was the shooter.
“I am,” Roe told the officer and shook a gun in his hand, according to the court document.
Roe had a valid Indiana permit for the gun, police said.
During their investigation, police said they found four shell casings from a 9mm and a bullet jacket on the ground at the intersection. A later investigation of the tow truck found its ignition had been damaged in a way common to a vehicle theft.
