Powell Ave. shooting suspect appeared in court Tuesday

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - The man accused of shooting Rylan Conway made his first court appearance Tuesday. 19-year-old Eriyon Gibson is facing a reckless homicide charge. On Tuesday, probable cause was found and the court ordered Gibson to be held without bond right now.

Police say Gibson told them the shooting was an accident. He’s due back in court Thursday.

The affidavit in a deadly Evansville shooting shows the suspect and the victim were friends. It happened Sunday evening in the 1100 block of Powell Avenue.

“I was sitting in my living room, looking out my window, I observed people exiting the house, looking shocked,” said Evie Waddell, neighbor.

Waddell lives across the street from where the shooting happened.

“I said something ain’t right,” Waddell said. “So I proceeded to get up and go to the door, and yelled out what’s going on, what’s wrong and they told me somebody got shot.”

The coroner says 16-year-old Rylan Conway was shot. The Vanderburgh County Coroner Steve Lockyear says Conway died from a single gunshot wound to the torso.

“I entered through the house trying to figure out what’s going on and that’s when I seen Rylan on the floor, kind of like holding his stomach,” Waddell said.

Police records show 19-year-old Eriyon Gibson was arrested. He’s in the Vanderburgh County Jail on a reckless homicide charge.

“My sisters a retired combat nurse in the army, so I knew she was in my house,” Waddell said. “So I was going back to go get her to come over and see if she could help him. And she came over and tried to stay with him until the paramedics came.”

The affidavit shows Gibson told officers they were playing with a gun, and it fell from a shelf.

It shows after a witness statement didn’t match, Gibson admitted he pulled the trigger. He says he unloaded the gun, then pointed it at Conway while they were joking around.

The affidavit shows he told them he only pulled the trigger because he thought it was empty.

It shows he dumped the bullets that had been in the gun over the fence in the yard. A witness gave the gun to officers on the scene.

“I want to give a message to the youth that you’re going to have to find another way to entertain yourself because guns are not the way,” Waddell said. “Guns are not a toy, it’s a very serious thing and when guns go off it changes lives.”

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