On September 26, 2020, a tragic sequence of events unfolded at an apartment complex in Speedway, Indiana, claiming the life of 21-year-old Faith Renee Banks. Faith, an African American woman who was seven months pregnant with a daughter she planned to name Londyn, had been staying at the apartment shared by her boyfriend, Christian Goods, and his childhood friend, Shawn James Harris. That evening, an argument broke out between Faith and Goods, prompting her to decide to leave the residence.
As she packed her belongings and moved them into the hallway, the situation escalated, leading Goods to retrieve a handgun belonging to Faith and place it on the ground outside the apartment door before re-entering.
Inside the apartment, Shawn James Harris, who was in his bedroom trying to sleep before an early work shift, became aware of the commotion. Claiming he heard what he believed were gunshots and seeing a shadowy figure outside his bedroom window, Harris grabbed a rifle. He fired through the blind-covered window, striking Faith, who was outside. Police arrived to find Faith suffering from a fatal gunshot wound; she and her unborn child were pronounced dead shortly after being transported to a hospital. Harris initially did not inform investigators about seeing a figure or believing an intruder was present, later attributing his silence to distress.
Shawn James Harris was subsequently arrested and charged with reckless homicide, a Level 5 felony. During his bench trial, Harris argued that he acted in self-defense and defense of his dwelling, asserting he believed someone was attempting to break into the apartment. Prosecutors countered that his use of force was unreasonable and unjustified, noting that he fired blindly through a window without verifying the target. The trial court ultimately rejected Harris's self-defense claim, pointing to inconsistencies in his statements to police and his failure to call for help immediately after the shooting.
Harris was convicted of reckless homicide. The judge sentenced him to a three-year term, structured as one year in the Department of Correction, one year in community corrections, and one year suspended to probation. Harris later appealed his conviction, arguing there was insufficient evidence to disprove his self-defense claim. In March 2024, the Court of Appeals of Indiana affirmed the trial court's judgment, upholding the conviction and the ruling that his actions were not a reasonable use of force.
