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Nicole James


Nicole James

Two adults found dead, child shot on west side

Posted: Mar 01, 2010 12:28 PM EST

Tuesday night update: Corbin Harris is currently listed in critical condition. His family released the following statement Tuesday:

"Even in this tragedy, we are grateful for the community's thoughts, prayers and overall concern for Corbin's well-being. At this time, we are focusing on Corbin's recovery and ask that our family's privacy be respected."

Chris Proffitt/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - Police found two people dead in a west side apartment Monday morning. Also inside was a four-year-old boy who was shot in the head. It happened at Chapel Hill Apartments on West Saint Clair Street near the intersection of 10th Street and Girls School Road.

Investigators say the deaths of Nicole James, 35, and Daunte Roberts, 36, appear to be a murder-suicide.

"We believe it's the result of a domestic situation. We don't know at this point who did the shooting. That's still under investigation," said Lt. Jeff Duhamell, IMPD. "It's a tragic situation all the way around."

Police say the child's father, who doesn't live in the apartment, became alarmed when he couldn't reach the little boy's mother. Neighbors say police on Sunday were at the apartment checking on the child's welfare but that no one was home.

Officers entered the apartment at around 11:30 Monday morning and discovered the bodies of James and Roberts. Four-year-old Rubin Corbin Harris was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Police don't know how long the boy was inside the apartment after the shooting.

Neighbors say it wasn't uncommon to hear James and her unidentified boyfriend arguing as they were on Sunday night.

"We heard arguing, screaming and yelling and doors slamming. We heard it before so we didn't think anything of it," said Shelby Haltom.

"I know that he was here constantly and there were always doors banging, screaming and yelling," said Danita Vannoy, neighbor. "There was always some type of disturbance or argument going on."

Neighbors say that the couple had a volatile relationship and that James, at some point, took out restraining orders against Roberts.

"My understanding is that there was a restraining order. Whether it was on this individual here or the biological father, we just don't know yet," said Lt. Duhamell. "We don't know if it's still valid. Whether it expired."

Police were at the apartment Sunday afternoon, neighbors say, but never went inside.

"They knocked, pounded on the door, there was no response," said Lt. Duhamell. "We just didn't have enough information at that point to go in there."

"They was here probably about three hours," said Vannoy.

But the Monday was a different story. That's when police heard the child crying inside and found him shot in the head, but alive.

"Pretty miraculously the little kid to survive," said Lt. Duhamell.

A co-worker of Nicole James told Eyewitness News that James had expressed some concern to her that Roberts had been acting weird over the past five months. James told the co-worker she wasn't scared, just concerned.

Because of the couple's stormy history, neighbors say they didn't think twice Sunday night when they heard more noise.

"Doors slamming, hollering," recalled Vannoy.

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