John Patrick Talboohas been held in the county jail since Saturday’s shooting and was officially charged with one count of murder. Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022.
HANCOCK COUNTY — Officials say a family disturbance appears to be the cause of the shooting incident that took the life of Brandon Perry, 23, Fortville this past weekend. Court documents indicate he was shot three times—twice in the head and once in the chest. Perry died from the gunshot wounds at 2:35 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 6, officials said.
Hancock County Prosecutor Brent Eaton has officially charged John Patrick Talboo, 48, Fortville with one count of murder following an investigation into the incident which took place Saturday, Feb. 5. The charge carries up to 65 years in prison.
Talboo, 48, 600 block of West 950N, has been sitting in the county jail since the shooting after law enforcement placed a 72-hour hold on the case Monday, Feb. 7 while they finished the investigation.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Aimee Herring officially filed the paperwork on the case late Wednesday, Feb. 9 with the clerk’s office of Hancock County Circuit Court. It’s the first murder charge the county prosecutor’s office has filed in since Oct. 6, 2016 back when Eaton was a deputy prosecutor.
“It’s been 1,925 days since we’ve had to file a murder charge in our community, but we’re looking forward to proving our case in due time,” Eaton said.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officials were called to the 600 block of West 950N due to a disturbance this past Saturday afternoon. When police arrived, they spoke with Talboo’s girlfriend who advised law enforcement she lived with Talboo in the residence, owned by her grandparents. The grandparents she said live in a house west of the property, and Perry stayed with them, the affidavit stated.
Talboo’s girlfriend told officials Perry was her nephew, and in mid-January she and Perry had gotten into a disagreement and Perry threatened to “punch her in the face” when she was over trying to help her grandparents, the affidavit stated.
The woman told officials she had not been back to her grandparents’ house since the incident and that on the day of the shooting Talboo was out shoveling snow and came inside after having a shouting fight with Perry, she said in the report. Talboo told his girlfriend that he had had it with Perry and didn’t stay inside long despite her efforts of trying to stop him from heading back outside, the report stated.
It wasn’t long after Talboo went outside that the girlfriend heard gunshots and saw Perry fall to the ground, the report stated. The girlfriend then called dispatch for help, the affidavit said.
Talboo told officials he went inside the main residence after arguing with Perry about threatening his girlfriend, got his .38 revolver from the nightstand and headed back outside, the report stated.
Talboo told officials he and Perry started walking towards each other and he fired a shot at Perry and when Perry rushed him he fired again. Talboo then told officials Perry jumped on top of him and acknowledged he may have fired a third time at Perry, the report stated.
Talboo was apologetic and indicated he lost his temper, the affidavit stated. “The situation got out of control,” Talboo is reported to have told officials in the report. Officials arrested Talboo at the scene and found the gun on the ground in the southwest corner of the property, the affidavit said.
The Marion County Coroner’s office indicated in the report the manner of death was homicide and the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds.
Eaton credited officials with the Fortville Police Department, who were first on the scene, and detectives with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department for what he called a solid investigation and work on the case.
“Their almost around-the-clock efforts on this investigation allows us to bring these charges promptly,” Eaton said. “They did a lot in a short period of time to get us here.”
Talboo had his initial appearance in Hancock County Circuit Court Thursday, Feb. 10 in front of Judge Scott Sirk who read Talboo his rights and entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. Talboo, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and a mask, sat at the defense table alone and answered, “yes, your honor,” when Sirk asked if he understood the charges against him.
Herring asked the court for no bond to be set on Talboo, and Sirk agreed before appointing the county’s public defender, Jeremy Teipen, to defend Talboo. Sirk also put a no contact order in place with the victim’s family members who attended the hearing. Sirk set a pretrial conference for Tuesday, April 12 and a jury trial for Tuesday, Aug 16.
