A Marion County jury on Wednesday found 24-year-old Donnie Abney guilty of murder and unlawful carrying of a handgun in the killing of 62-year-old Forrest Tab Grant, who was shot near a bus stop on Indianapolis's southwest side in April 2025. Abney is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 3.
Jurors deliberated for roughly three hours before reaching their verdict, according to WTHR. The station reports that Grant was killed outside a southwest-side tobacco store on April 17, 2025, and was found shot in front of a bus stop before later dying at the hospital. The exact location has been described differently across reports — as the intersection of Hiatt Street and West Morris Street by WISH-TV, and as the 2000 block of West Morris Street near South Belmont Avenue according to the same WTHR account.
Court documents said Grant was shot in the back, and the bullet struck multiple organs, leading to his death, as reported by FOX59. At trial, witnesses testified that Abney and his father argued with Grant outside the tobacco store, and prosecutors said Abney pulled out a gun multiple times before firing the single shot that struck Grant in the torso. Court documents also alleged that surveillance video showed Grant walking away from Abney after the argument before he was shot.
Witness Accounts and an Alleged Confession
One witness told police that Grant used a stick to defend himself against Abney and his father before one of them opened fire, the station's report notes. Witnesses described Abney, who also goes by “Little Donnie,” as the shooter, and prosecutors said that account was corroborated by surveillance footage and video from nearby businesses.
A family member told police that Abney admitted by phone to shooting Grant after the argument, saying, “I’m a hot head and I shot him.” Prosecutors said Abney made that admission while on the run after the shooting. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said Abney was arrested on May 1, 2025, for his alleged role in the killing, per the same account from FOX59, and investigators believed at the time that the shooting was an isolated incident and that Abney and Grant knew each other.
Family Seeks Answers, Prosecutor Reflects on Gun Violence
Forrest Grant's son, Joseph Grant, asked why the shooting happened and noted that his father was 62 years old. Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said a young person with a gun was unequipped to handle a brief dispute, which caused life-altering consequences, according to WTHR's account of the case.
The court will determine whether Abney faces a felony firearms sentencing enhancement at his Dec. 3 sentencing. He was convicted of both murder and unlawful carrying of a handgun.
A Broader Pattern of Gun Violence in Indianapolis
The case adds to a long record of firearm-involved violence in the city. An analysis from the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform found that firearms were the primary weapon in 342 of 393 homicides analyzed in Indianapolis from January 2022 through December 2023 — about 87 percent — alongside 521 nonfatal injury shootings recorded in 2023 alone.
That same analysis found Indianapolis's average homicide rate from 2010 through 2023 was 21.5 per 100,000 residents, compared with a national average of 5.5 per 100,000 over the same period. The institute also noted that the city has seen three and a half consecutive years of declining violence, with rates falling below pre-COVID levels in 2025.
