On a violent Friday evening in Muncie, Indiana, the life of 27-year-old Ashuntiz T. Stewart, a Black male, was irrevocably altered. The night of September 5, 2025, was shattered by gunfire that echoed through the parking lot of an apartment complex on South Walnut Street. When police and medics arrived after 8:30 p.m., they discovered two men suffering from gunshot wounds.
One of them was Ashuntiz Stewart, who was found in a critical state and immediately rushed to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for urgent care. Despite the efforts of medical professionals, he succumbed to his injuries on Monday, September 8, 2025. The second victim, a 24-year-old man, was in stable condition. Known affectionately as 'Flame,' Stewart was remembered as a devoted father, a loyal son and brother, and a protector to those he loved.
The shooting that claimed Stewart's life was part of a string of violent incidents that plagued Muncie that night, with two other shootings occurring at different locations across the city's south side. In the wake of the violence, Muncie Police detectives began an intensive investigation, pursuing multiple leads to bring those responsible to justice. The initial breakthrough in the case came on Tuesday, September 9, with the arrest of 24-year-old Michael Leroy Jones. He was taken into custody on preliminary charges of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and criminal recklessness. According to court documents, Jones claimed that he had fired his weapon in self-defense during the incident in the apartment complex parking lot.
As the investigation deepened, authorities identified a second individual believed to be involved. On September 18, police located and arrested 21-year-old Lamont Jaden Duane Howard in the nearby city of Anderson on unrelated felony warrants. By September 26, investigators had connected Howard to the events of that fatal night, and he faced a charge of felony murder in the death of Ashuntiz Stewart. Furthermore, Howard was implicated in a second shooting that occurred later the same evening at a convenience store at the corner of South Madison and East Willard streets. On October 6, the Delaware County Prosecutor's Office formally charged Howard with murder for his alleged role in the shooting on Walnut Street, as well as attempted murder and other felony charges for the subsequent shooting incident.
