In the late hours of a Sunday evening in Richmond, Indiana, the life of 19-year-old Jaziah Xavier Lee Scudiero was tragically cut short. On November 26, 2023, Richmond Police Department officers were dispatched to the 500 block of North 18th Street following a distressing 911 call from a woman who reported that her son had shot someone. Upon their arrival at the residence, they discovered Scudiero, a white male, with a gunshot wound.
Despite the immediate medical attention provided by the Richmond Fire Department, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into Scudiero's death quickly led to a suspect, 24-year-old Austin M. Day. It was Day's own mother who had made the emergency call that brought law enforcement to the scene. According to her report, she was on the phone with her son when he informed her of the shooting. Officers located Day at the residence and took him into custody without incident. The circumstances surrounding the shooting suggest a dispute between the two men may have preceded the fatal event, though specific details of the altercation have not been publicly disclosed.
Following his arrest, Austin M. Day was preliminarily charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of Jaziah Scudiero. He was subsequently booked into the Wayne County Jail. The case has been turned over to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office to determine formal charges. As the legal process moves forward, the community is left to mourn the loss of a young man whose life was abruptly ended, while awaiting justice for his death.
