The case against Louis Jenkins Jr. turns on witness accounts from inside the home and statements he made after the shot.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Two 911 calls from an east-side Indianapolis home brought police to Carlyle Place late April 1, where officers found 21-year-old Rebecca June Carter fatally wounded and later arrested her boyfriend.
The death of Carter has become a reckless homicide case against Louis Jenkins Jr., 20, who police said was holding a loaded handgun when it fired inside the home. Court documents describe the shooting as an accident caused by reckless handling, not as a planned attack. They also place several people in the home at the time, including a juvenile witness and two young children.
The first facts in the case came from the emergency calls. Police said callers reported that someone had been shot in the 500 block of Carlyle Place shortly before midnight. One caller said Carter’s boyfriend had shot her friend in the mouth by accident. Officers arrived around 11:45 p.m. and found Carter with wounds to her neck and head. Medics took her to a hospital in critical condition. She later died there. The coroner ruled the death a homicide and listed the cause as a gunshot wound to the neck. The ruling did not decide criminal intent, but it confirmed that Carter died because another person fired the weapon.
Inside the home, detectives focused on the people who had seen the gun before it fired. A juvenile witness told police that Carter and Jenkins were sitting on a couch and that Carter had been handling Jenkins’ gun while she was on FaceTime with another person. The witness said Carter was playing with the gun and kissing it. According to court documents, the juvenile said Carter told Jenkins to put the gun in her mouth. The witness said Jenkins raised the weapon and Carter put her hand up near it. The witness could not say with certainty whether Carter grabbed the gun, hit the trigger or Jenkins pulled the trigger by accident.
That witness account did not end the inquiry because Jenkins gave police another version of the moments before the shot. Jenkins told detectives a juvenile had a Glock 19 and had been pointing it at him while talking about car meets. Jenkins said that gun was empty. He told police he reached to a cubby on the side of the couch, took out his Taurus G3 handgun and showed that he also had a firearm. He said he told the juvenile, “Yeah I got a gun, too.” Jenkins said the other person answered that he did not care because he had a Glock and Jenkins had a Taurus. Jenkins told police his gun was pointed toward Carter when his finger slipped.
The difference between those accounts is likely to matter as the case proceeds. The juvenile’s statement suggests Carter’s hand may have touched the gun or trigger as Jenkins raised it. Jenkins’ statement places the trigger movement on his own finger. Both accounts put Jenkins in possession of the gun when the round fired. Both also describe the weapon being handled in a casual setting, with no report of an outside threat. Police have not said the shooting followed an argument between Carter and Jenkins. Jenkins told investigators he and Carter had been dating for about a year and described the relationship as great and amazing.
Jenkins’ statements after the shooting became part of the probable cause affidavit. A witness said Jenkins exclaimed, “Oh my God. I’m so stupid. I had one in the head,” after the gun fired. Court documents say that statement referred to a round in the chamber. Jenkins later told police he did not usually keep a bullet chambered. He also told them he had removed the magazine after the shot and thrown the gun. He said he called his mother and tried to help Carter by holding her neck. While being transported to the homicide office, Jenkins said he should have shot himself instead of Carter because his life was over.
Prosecutors charged Jenkins with one count of reckless homicide. The charge is built around the idea that Carter died because of reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, not because prosecutors are alleging a deliberate killing. Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said the events described in the court filing showed a group of friends joking around with a gun and using it in irresponsible ways. He said the result was that someone lost her life. The filing does not say whether the Glock 19 described by Jenkins was recovered, whether the FaceTime participant was interviewed or whether forensic testing has resolved who touched the trigger.
Carter’s family has spoken about her life rather than the court file. Her godmother said Becca, as relatives called her, was fun and had a tenacious spirit. The shooting left her family with a sudden death inside a home and a criminal case against the man who had been her boyfriend. The presence of two small children in the home added another layer to the investigation, though records reviewed by local outlets do not say the children were physically injured. Police have not released a full diagram of where everyone was standing or sitting when the gun fired.
Jenkins was booked into the Marion County jail and later released after posting a $40,000 bond. Court records show a pretrial conference is scheduled for 2 p.m. June 2. That hearing could set deadlines for discovery, motions or later proceedings. Until then, the public record consists largely of the probable cause affidavit, the coroner’s ruling, the filed charge and the accounts from people who were inside the home.
The investigation has moved from the emergency call stage to the court stage. Jenkins remains charged with reckless homicide in Carter’s death, and the case is next set for a June 2 pretrial conference in Marion County.
Author note: Last updated May 4, 2026.