March 16, 2021- 9:51 a.m
An argument over a stimulus check led a 25-year-old man to shoot the mother of his child and kill four of her relatives at an Indianapolis home, according to reports.
A day before Malik Halfacre allegedly shot Jeanettrius Moore Saturday and gunned down her family — killing her young daughter, brother, mother and a cousin — the father of one of Moore’s children wanted half of her $1,400 stimulus check, relatives told WXIN.
“He wanted some of Jeanettrius’ tax money, stimulus money,” cousin Wendy Johnson told the station. “She said, No, you don’t deserve any of this. I work. I take care of our child. You don’t do anything.”
Moore offered Halfacre $450, telling him “take it or leave it,” Johnson recalled.
Halfacre later returned to the home and started going through Moore’s purse looking for the money when Daquan Moore tried to intervene to help his sister, prompting Halfacre to just start “killing everybody,” Johnson said.
Relatives identified the victims as Moore’s 7-year-old daughter, Eve, her 23-year-old brother Daquan Moore, her 44-year-old mother Tomeeka Brown and her 35-year-old cousin, Anthony Johnson.
“He shot Daquan first,” Wendy Johnson said. “He shot Anthony. He turned around, and he shot my auntie Tomeeka. My aunt Tomeeka said, ‘Malik!’ and he shot her again.”
Meanwhile, Jeanettrius Moore, who worked at a beauty salon to support her two girls, was shot in the back. She flatly told a neighbor that Halfacre shot her and killed her family over her stimulus money.
“I said, ‘Why did he shoot you?’” neighbor Craig Jackson said. “And her exact words were ‘stimulus money’ … Her exact words were, ‘I am the only one who got away. He killed the rest of them. Those were her exact words.”
Moore, who was initially listed in critical condition, was released from a hospital Monday, relatives told the station.
Halfacre remained held without bail Tuesday on preliminary charges of murder, robbery and attempted murder, online records show.
Lorenzo Moore, Jeanettrius’ brother, said Halfacre was known to carry a gun, didn’t have a job and frightened his sister.
“It was like you could feel this fear, but you never want to do anything about it because you’re too scared and it might come to what it’s come to,” Moore told WXIN. “Just him being angry about not having any money and him not doing anything for himself, so he thought he would just take something from her.”
