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Charges in egg-throwing teen's killingBy Mallory Simon  Donald Ware faces up to 81 years in prison if convicted on all counts. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(COURT TV) -- Indiana prosecutors charged a man with murder after he allegedly fired upon a group of teenagers who threw eggs at his pickup truck. Following a week-long manhunt, police arrested Donald Ware for the shooting death of 15-year-old Brandon Dunson in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dunson bled to death from a gunshot wound to the back following the June 24 incident. Another teen, Michael Dyer, survived after being shot in the thigh. Police say the deadly altercation began when a group of boys started throwing eggs at cars at about 11 p.m. on the west side of the city. They hit several passing vehicles, including Ware's maroon pickup. Police say Ware became irate and eventually drove after the boys, chasing them to a nearby storage facility. Ware, 37, then grabbed a rifle and started shooting at the group, hitting Dunson and Dyer, while the others fled, according to police reports. Dyer limped to his car and sped home, where his parents called police. Dunson, however, lay injured in a dark alley near the storage facility. About two hours later, his friends returned to the scene and found him dead in a pool of blood. An autopsy report concluded that the young football player died from a small-caliber gunshot wound that pierced his heart. "What kind of a monster do you have to be to shoot at kids?" said Ellonia Bickers, Dunson's mother. "Whether it's to scare them or not, to shoot at kids is unbelievable." Ware, a convicted felon with a history of drug, alcohol and gun charges, is being held without bond in the Marion County Jail. He was charged Wednesday with murder, battery with a weapon and two counts of criminal recklessness. He faces up to 81 years in prison if convicted on all counts. Hunt for the killerNot long after Dunson's body was discovered, police realized they may have already talked to the killer -- and let him go. Police received several calls June 24 about teens throwing eggs in the area. An officer who responded to the scene spotted Ware's pickup in the middle of the road and approached him, according to Capt. Doug Scheffel of the Marion County Sheriff's Dept. Ware, whose face was covered with egg, allegedly told the officer that the boys had just fled the scene. The officer failed to get Ware's name but asked him to wait while he tried to catch the teens. The officer pursued the teens without success, according to police reports, but when he returned, Ware and his pickup were gone. Scheffel contends that Ware had already opened fire on the boys before the officer arrived, and that was why they ran away. "At that time, the officer didn't know the suspect had fired shots," Scheffel said. "There was no indication he was a suspect. At that point, he was just a victim." Lisa Baker, whose car also had been egged, told police that Ware had threatened to go after the teens. She said she pulled over after her car was hit, and Ware approached her to ask if she was OK. She said Ware told her he'd been hit in the face, but added: "It's okay, because I have my rifle." After Dunson's body was found, police released a description of Ware's vehicle and asked the public to help locate him. A week later, detectives received an anonymous tip that Ware was hiding the pickup in his backyard. Officers investigated the tip and found pieces of egg in the driveway that appeared to have fallen from the vehicle, according to Scheffel. When police finally caught up with him, Ware acknowledged he was at the scene but insisted he was not the shooter, according to Scheffel. "He admits to everything but firing the shots," Scheffel said. "He claims he heard two gunshots, but said he did not kill anyone." After searching Ware's home and car, police recovered the alleged murder weapon. Grieving for a lost sonBickers said that although she finds solace in the capture of the man police say killed her son, she said nothing can fill the void left by the boy's death. "I can't ever hear him coming down the stairs, or the phone ringing off the hook from girls and friends calling him," Bickers said, beginning to weep. "I can't ever again come home to hear the radio blasting upstairs. It's just so quiet in this house without him." A funeral was held for Dunson on June 29 at a packed church in Indianapolis. Bickers said family members who were shocked by such an "unspeakable tragedy" came together to celebrate his life and grieve for his loss. "I hope justice will be preserved," Bickers said. "I have no problem spending my tax dollars to let this man sit in jail for the rest of his life and remember what he took from me over an egg." Ware is scheduled to appear in court Friday for a preliminary hearing. 
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