LAWRENCE, Ind. — Court documents suggest a bloody parking lot shootout that left three people dead was the result of a Honduran family war spilling into Indiana.
On Sunday, at approximately 8:45 p.m., police arrived at a parking lot near 42nd Street and Post Road in the city of Lawrence, northeast of Indianapolis. Three men were found lying on the ground: Juan Escobar, Candido Eustaqui Antunez Guillen and Daniel Alberto Morales Uribe.
Both Juan Escobar, age unknown, and Candido Eustaqui Antunez Guillen, 35, were pronounced dead at the scene. Daniel Alberto Morales Uribe, 38, died later after being taken to the hospital.
Jail records and court documents reveal that two men are currently being held in connection to the bloody shootout: Santos Alfaro-Escobar, 29, and Justo Miguel Antunez Escobar, 29.
Both men are reportedly being held on Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers.
According to statements from both suspects and witnesses, the shootout stemmed from a blood feud between two Honduran families — referred to as the Escobar family and the Antunez family.
At the center of the feud were Juan Escobar and Candido Eustaqui Antunez Guillen, the two men found lying dead near one another in the parking lot. Witnesses claim the two men gunned each other down during an argument. Family members backing each man then opened fire on each other.
Officers also discovered that Juan Escobar had filed multiple prior reports to police expressing fear for his life due to threats allegedly made by Candido Eustaqui Antunez Guillen. Juan Escobar had told officers that the Antunez family killed members of the Escobar family back in Honduras, including Juan Escobar’s father and one of his brothers.
Court documents reveal officers spoke with the wife of Daniel Alberto Morales Uribe, who is also related to Candido Eustaqui Antunez Guillen. She claims she and her husband arrived to try and break up the fighting, but then guns were drawn and her husband was caught in the crossfire.
A white Mazda and a red Ford Focus reportedly fled the scene after the shootout. The Focus didn’t make it far, crashing into another driver at 38th and Post Road.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers located surveillance footage that showed the crash involving the Focus. It also showed two men fleeing the Focus after the crash. One appeared to be holding a rifle.
Police investigators eventually identified one of these men as Santos Alfaro-Escobar and took him into custody.
Santos Alfaro-Escobar told officers that Juan Escobar was his brother, according to documents. Santos Alfaro-Escobar said he and another one of his brothers 1 who was reportedly the second person in the Focus at the time of the accident — came to back up Juan Escobar in the confrontation with Candido Eustaqui Antunez Guillen.
Santos Alfaro-Escobar also told officers about the bad blood between the two families and repeated the claim that the Antunez family had his father and brother killed in Honduras.
Documents detail that Santos Alfaro-Escobar told a similar account of the shooting with Candido Eustaqui Antunez Guillen and Juan Escobar shooting and killing each other. According to his account, Justo Miguel Antunez Escobar was a member of the Antunez family and was there backing up Candido Eustaqui Antunez Guillen.
In the chaos of the gunfight, as the family members opened fire on each other, Daniel Alberto Morales Uribe was hit. He reportedly wasn’t armed.
Justo Miguel Antunez Escobar reportedly fled in a white Mazda while Santos Alfaro-Escobar and his brother fled in the Focus. Santos Alfaro-Escobar told police he and his brother split up and ran after the crash because they feared the Antunez family was chasing them.
Documents reveal that police ended up tracking down Justo Miguel Antunez Escobar by tracing his white Mazda back to an apartment. Police found various guns in his apartment, including pistols and a shotgun.
Justo Miguel Antunez Escobar allegedly admitted to being present at the shooting and first denied firing a gun before later changing his story to say he “might have shot someone on the ground.”
Police said a search of Miguel Antunez’s home uncovered .223-caliber ammo. This same type of ammo was reportedly found lodged in vehicles in the parking lot in addition to being the suspected ammo type used to cause Daniel Alberto Morales Uribe’s fatal wound.
At this time, no official charges have been filed against the two men being held by IMPD. Police are currently holding the men are preliminary charges of battery with a deadly weapon and criminal recklessness.
Final charges will be decided by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.