EVANSVILLE – A quiet West Side neighborhood woke to chaos just before dawn Wednesday when a hail of bullets tore through a home on the 1700 block of Marshall Avenue, claiming the life of 17-year-old Josiah Villarreal Madrid and leaving two others wounded.
Evansville Police say officers were called at 5:28 a.m. November 26 after panicked 911 callers reported hearing as many as ten gunshots and seeing several people sprinting from the scene.
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When police arrived, they found three shooting victims inside and around the residence. Josiah, a junior at Reitz High School, was rushed to Deaconess Midtown with multiple gunshot wounds but did not survive. A juvenile and an adult were also transported with injuries described only as “serious but stable.” Their names and exact relationship to the home have not been released.
A silver sedan parked in the driveway was riddled with bullet holes; the driver-side window completely shot out. Shell casings littered the yard and street.
Neighbors told investigators they heard a dark-colored SUV or large sedan speed away immediately after the shots. No arrests have been announced, but Sgt. Anthony Aussieker said detectives are following several strong leads and the two surviving victims are cooperating.
“Josiah was a good kid, always polite, always smiling,” said next-door neighbor Carla Henderson, who watched him grow up. “He’d be out here cutting the grass for his grandma every weekend. This doesn’t make any sense.”
Friends at Reitz High say Josiah loved playing pickup basketball at Garvin Park and dreamed of enlisting in the Marines after graduation. A makeshift memorial of candles, balloons, and his #23 Reitz jersey now sits on the porch where he was found.
Reitz canceled classes Wednesday and brought in extra counselors. The football team plans to wear “JVM” decals on their helmets for the rest of the season.
Anyone with doorbell or dash-cam footage from the area between 5:00 and 5:45 a.m. is urged to call EPD detectives at 812-436-7979 or WeTip anonymously at 1-800-78-CRIME.
As the sun rose over Marshall Avenue, yellow crime-scene tape fluttered in the cold wind and a stunned community began asking the same question: Who would gun down a 17-year-old boy just trying to make it to 18?
The investigation is active and ongoing.