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Last updated on Monday, July 31, 2017
(SOUTHPORT) - Family and friends of Jason Brown don’t excuse or condone the charges against him in the death of a Southport police officer last week.
Russ McQuaid of FOX59 News reports that like investigators, though, they are struggling for answers and have many questions.
Associates of the 28-year-old tattoo artist accused of killing Lt. Aaron Allan have pieced together their own account of the minutes leading up to a violent crash on Indianapolis' south side and the murder of an officer as he literally lent a helping hand.
"When Jason left his house at two o'clock that day to go pick up that passenger, Jason was in a wonderful mood, he was in a happy mood," said an acquaintance who had spoken with a woman who was with Brown when he received a phone call early Thursday afternoon to pick up a friend at Buck's IGA/Sunoco at Meridian Street and Troy Avenue.
"From what I know, he was supposed to pick up the passenger at Buck's and grab a pack of cigarettes while he was there and go straight back home and he was not supposed to make any other stops."
The accused man's friends have learned that the passenger and Brown made an unexpected stop at an apartment complex less than two blocks away at Troy and Madison Avenue.
"They went to Country Club Apartments and something happened there but there's got to be a reason why Jason was driving that fast."
Friends said Brown was a careful driver, having just received his license after a driving suspension.
At 2:38 p.m., Lt. Allan marked out at Madison and Maynard Street, a five minute drive from Brown's last stop at the Country Club Apartments.
Brown's 2004 BMW was on its roof in the front yard of a home on the east side of Madison, indicating that the vehicle had crossed over the northbound lanes and into head-on traffic.
Investigators said that Brown's passenger exited the car but when Allan reached in to offer assistance to Brown, he was fatally wounded.
Witnesses reported hearing more than a dozen gunshots.
Brown was wounded while still strapped in his car by gunfire from a Homecroft officer and an off-duty Johnson County Sheriff's Department reserve officer.
Brown is at Eskanazi Hospital with a gunshot wound to the face.
His initial court appearance on murder and marijuana charges is set for Tuesday afternoon.
FOX59 spoke with Brown's passenger who claimed to have no idea what led up to the crash and shooting or what had caused Brown to drive so erratically southbound on Madison Avenue, though he did not deny any of the information he reportedly shared with investigators.
The man does not face any charges in the crash and denied any knowledge of the gun or the marijuana found in Brown's car.
Brown's associates believe the involvement of the passenger and the unscheduled stop at the Country Club Apartments are missing puzzle pieces in this tragedy.
"There was nothing that transpired before Jason left to pick up the passenger that could have led to any of this," said the associate who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution.
Lt. Allan's funeral has been scheduled for Saturday morning at Banker's Life Fieldhouse.
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