A 64-year-old Indianapolis man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after pleading guilty to murder and attempted murder in a double shooting that killed 44-year-old Jason Griffin and left a woman seriously injured inside a home on the city's near south side. Chandron Clark was sentenced to 85 years in the Indiana Department of Correction, closing out a case that began last November with a call to police describing two people found suffering from gunshot wounds.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were dispatched just before 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, to the 1700 block of Union Street, near East Minnesota and South Pennsylvania streets, according to WTHR. Officers found Clark ducking behind a fence and took him into custody, according to Fox 59. The surviving woman told IMPD detectives that Clark, her roommate, walked into her bedroom and opened fire on her and Griffin as the two slept, per her police interview.
A Silent, Targeted Attack
Court documents reviewed by Law & Crime describe another resident inside the Union Street home who heard the couple screaming for help and “begging for mercy” during the shooting, and told officers that Clark never said a word throughout the assault. The woman later told investigators Clark was “mainly aiming at my boyfriend” as the gunfire began, and that after she was shot once, she ran into a bathroom to call 911 on Griffin's advice, according to the station's reporting.
The survivor also told detectives that Clark, her roommate, was smiling as he opened fire, per her account to police. She described him to IMPD as “really obsessed” with her and jealous of her relationship with Griffin, according to the same report — a portrait of interpersonal motive that sits alongside her separate statement that Clark was a methamphetamine user, according to Law & Crime.
Trump References and Talk of a Perfect Society
Per court documents, Clark gave investigators a series of disjointed statements after his arrest, including references to President Donald Trump and claims that he had been using some kind of platform to relay messages. He told police the shooting was supposed to be a murder-suicide and that the scenario was what he wanted it to be, according to the documents. Clark also said he found the woman and Griffin inside the home when he returned, and claimed his gun had misfired during the encounter, per the same court filings.
Perhaps the starkest statement attributed to Clark in the documents is his claim that the victims “had to become casualties” because they did not fit his plan for a perfect society. That chaotic framing stands in contrast to the survivor's more grounded account of a jealous, obsessive roommate who had been using methamphetamine, a gap the case's court record does not fully resolve.
An Open Plea and Maximum Consequences
Clark pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder through what is known as an open plea, meaning he entered his guilty plea without a plea agreement. Prosecutors did not dismiss any charges or cap his potential sentence, leaving the penalty entirely to the judge's discretion, per WTHR's reporting.
Under Indiana Code, murder carries a statutory sentencing range of 45 to 65 years, while Level 1 felony attempted murder carries a range of 20 to 40 years, meaning Clark faced a maximum statutory exposure of 105 years before the court handed down his 85-year sentence, according to legal analysis firm Banks & Brower. Indiana's advisory sentences sit at 55 years for murder and 30 years for Level 1 felony attempted murder, the firm notes, underscoring how far above the baseline the judge ultimately sentenced Clark.
The Marion County Prosecutor's Office announced the sentence on social media, with Prosecutor Ryan Mears calling what happened inside the residence “senseless” and saying the defendant took accountability for his actions. Mears framed the guilty plea as delivering accountability while sparing the victims' families a painful trial.
Remembering Jason Griffin
Griffin, 44, died from his gunshot wounds. He was an avid writer and published poet who left behind a son and extended family, with his nieces describing him as a loving “dad figure,” according to WTHR's earlier coverage of the case. The woman who survived the shooting was left seriously injured but has not been further identified in court records cited by reporters.
Case Fits Into a Broader Decline in Indianapolis Homicides
The Union Street shooting happened as Indianapolis has seen a sharp multi-year drop in homicides. Criminal homicides in the city fell nearly 45% in 2025 compared to a record peak of 241 homicides in 2021, with 133 murders recorded as IMPD expanded focused deterrence programs, according to WFYI. City leadership has credited that decline to targeted violent crime strategies and community outreach, though the Union Street case remains a stark reminder that deadly domestic violence continues even as citywide numbers trend downward.
