No arrests had been made as of Monday night.
Tim Corbett, commander of the St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit, said he isn’t sure exactly why there’s been an increase in such deadly shootings of late, especially among younger people.
“If I had the answer to that I would certainly (investigate) it as closely as I could,” Corbett said. “That’s a question people are searching for an answer to. I can’t put common sense to it. ... They just don’t think . They evoke this act on someone without any regard.”
Farmer was driven to Memorial Hospital about 12:30 a.m. Sunday with a gunshot wound to the torso and died a short time later. A woman who dropped Farmer off at the hospital left before police arrived but has since talked to detectives, Corbett said.
“She had nothing to do with it,” he said. “She was being a good Samaritan.”
During the investigation, police received information that the shooting may have occurred in an area around the 1200 block of Napier Street.
While a South Bend police crime technician was combing the neighborhood for any clues to Farmer’s shooting around 11:45 a.m. Sunday, he came across a car parked in an alley in the 1000 block of Napier Street.
The officer found both the driver’s side door and rear passenger door open, and located Newbill on the driver’s seat with a gunshot wound to the head. There was also a bullet in one of the car’s windows, said South Bend Det. Sgt. Ian McQueen.
No other information was released Monday.
Another double homicide this year involved the shooting deaths Jazmin Conlee and Alejandro Tinoco, both 19, at a home in the 1100 block of North Adams Street on Jan. 25. Three people were arrested in connection with the case.
Christopher Simril, 18, a Washington High School student, was shot and killed during an incident Feb. 26 at Walker Field Park on the south side.
And 16-year-old Kenneth Horton died April 14 after been struck in a drive-by shooting April 6 in the 1000 block of California Street. A 19-year-old man also was shot in the incident.
The latter two cases are still unsolved.
The city’s eight homicides is already two higher than the six murders reported in 2010 and just one less than last year.
The numbers to tend to fluctuate, though, as the city saw 16 homicides in 2009, 17 in 2008 and seven in 2007.
The investigation is ongoing. If you have any information, call Metro Homicide at (574) 235-5009 or Crime Stoppers at (574) 288-7867.
