An Allen County court has issued a warrant charging 27-year-old Nicholas McPherson with one count of murder in the May shooting death of 48-year-old Shonte Evette McDonald, and as of Tuesday he remains at large. Investigators say McPherson claimed he acted in self-defense after McDonald shot him first inside a home in the 200 block of East Maple Grove Avenue, but court records point to a very different chain of events built from ballistics, video, and deleted text messages.
The warrant, issued Tuesday, stems from a shooting that unfolded the night of May 7 at a home between Lafayette and South Calhoun streets in southeast Fort Wayne, according to WPTA. McPherson told police he paid rent at the home and that McDonald tried to hold a door shut to keep him out before she shot him as he entered, striking him in the arm and chest. He said he grabbed a nearby gun and returned fire, identifying the shooter to police as “Shonte.”
That account, however, appears to conflict with the physical evidence gathered at the scene. Crime scene technicians located four 9mm shell casings by the front door and a single .380 caliber casing near McDonald's body, and a later examination found that all four 9mm casings had been fired from a pink pistol. Police say McPherson's account also contradicted his own statements given at different points in the investigation.
Ring Camera and Phone Video Tell a Different Story
A Ring camera at a nearby home captured a woman saying either “get out of my…” or “get off of my…”, followed by a single gunshot and then four rapid gunshots, per the same reporting. Phone video reviewed by investigators reportedly showed McDonald grabbing McPherson's neck while she held his baby, telling him he had to leave her home. A second witness told police she saw McPherson ball his hand into a fist twice, as though preparing to strike her and later McDonald, during what she described as a dispute between McPherson and McDonald over McPherson's child.
A driver who later took McPherson to the hospital told police McPherson ran to the car yelling that he had been shot. Officers subsequently found a pink Taurus GX2 9mm pistol inside that same vehicle. A third witness — identified as the mother of McPherson's child and the pistol's owner — told police she occasionally allowed McPherson to carry the gun and had last seen it on a table in the home's basement. She also alleged that McPherson told her about the shooting afterward, and said ongoing issues between McPherson and McDonald over the baby and rent had existed but, in her account, had never turned physical. A third witness told investigators she was not present for the dispute itself.
Deleted Text Adds to the Case Against McPherson
Investigators recovered a text message they say McPherson had deleted, in which he told the mother of his child that things had “f****d up.” McPherson has given at least two versions of events to police: one in which he says he was trying to leave when McDonald grabbed and shot him, prompting him to return fire, and another in which he claims she shot him only after he entered the home.
Under Indiana Code § 35-41-3-2, a person is legally justified in using deadly force with no duty to retreat if they reasonably believe it necessary to prevent serious bodily injury or a forcible felony. Indiana self-defense law also addresses the circumstances in which such force may be justified. Indiana law also allows for a killing committed in “sudden heat” to be reduced from murder to voluntary manslaughter, a Level 2 felony punishable by 10 to 30 years, if a preceding argument or altercation is shown to have provoked the shooting.
If McPherson is apprehended and convicted of murder as charged, Indiana law calls for a sentence of 45 to 65 years, since the state treats murder as a single unclassed felony rather than dividing it into degrees.
Homicide Ruled, County's Death Toll Climbs
The Allen County Coroner's Office officially ruled McDonald's death a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds, marking the ninth homicide recorded in the county in 2026. County tracking later showed Allen County had logged 22 homicides through mid-August, with firearms responsible for 20 of those deaths — a pace being watched against 2025's full-year total of 35 homicides countywide.
McDonald's death also fell within the same East Maple Grove Avenue corridor that saw a child seriously injured after being struck by a vehicle in August, an incident Hoodline previously reported as part of a string of pedestrian crashes in the neighborhood.
A GoFundMe campaign was launched after McDonald's death, and it has since raised over $6,200 from 84 donors to help cover funeral costs and support McDonald's surviving children, according to the fundraiser. Her family described the loss as sudden and devastating.
Sheriff's Office Seeks Public's Help Locating McPherson
The Allen County Sheriff's Department's Warrants & Fugitive Division is asking anyone with information on McPherson's whereabouts to call 260-449-3343. The division handles warrant maintenance and service.
