INDIANAPOLIS – A man who surrendered in Ohio in the slayings of two women and their two young children told a newspaper that he was not the triggerman but was in the home when the shootings happened.
Indianapolis police were headed to Toledo to pick up 36-year-old Jasper Frazier, Chief Michael Spears confirmed. A police spokesman declined to comment Friday morning to The Associated Press, but said a news conference might be held later in the day.
In a telephone interview with The Indianapolis Star Thursday night, a man claiming to be Frazier denied killing the children.
"I ain't kill them kids, man," he said before turning himself in. "The people that killed the kids, they was going to kill me."
Police were also questioning Zarumin Coleman, 21, who was arrested on a robbery charge after a SWAT team swept an Indianapolis apartment building Thursday.
Spears and Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi declined to say whether Coleman was a suspect in the Monday night slayings of Gina Hunt, 24; her son Jordan Hunt, 23 months; Andrea Yarrell, 24; and her daughter Charlii, 4 months.
A crowd of people that had gathered across the street from the two-story building surged forward and shouted as Coleman was led out of the building in handcuffs. The Star reported a third man arrested Wednesday night on an unrelated charge also was being questioned in the killings.
Spears said police investigating the homicides became aware that Coleman was wanted in a 2006 robbery.
Police cordoned off the block in front of the two-story brick apartment building on the city's north side and evacuated the tenants before arresting Coleman, who they said surrendered without incident.
Police have not released any possible motive in the slayings. A set of scales, several weapons, a safe and a pound of what is believed to be marijuana were found inside the house.
Witnesses reported seeing two men running down the street after the shootings occurred, police said. Two guns were found on the street near the house, police said.
Frazier told the Star he fled Indianapolis to his sister's home in Toledo. Frazier said other men pulled him into a robbery plan that ended in the slayings.
Coleman was convicted of attempted robbery in 2006, and possession of a handgun without a license, dangerous possession of a handgun and possession of cocaine in 2002, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.
Almost 100 officers and detectives were working on the case, with authorities vowing to make quick arrests.
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