Suspect accused of firing shots causing truck to crash into school

Bass/ Vigo County Jail

 By Lucy Perry
Indiana Central News
 
A Terre Haute man was arrested on a warrant this week following a Terre Haute Police Department shooting investigation. 

Officials allege Shawn M. Bass, 30, fired bullets from his vehicle into the  juvenile male victim's vehicle, required the victim to suffer serious injuries------ including a head wound and a fractured skull. He was transferred from a local hospital to an Indianapolis hospital for treatment of those injuries after crashing into an elementary school.

Bass was booked into the Vigo County Jail Sunday at about 2:45 p.m.  He is charged with failure to appear, aggravated battery and criminal recklessness.

According to the probable cause affidavit, prepared by THPD Det. Jeff Trotter, the victim was struck by the gunfire while driving a white pick-up truck at N. Sixth and Linden Streets Oct. 22. The victim and other individuals were then transported to a nearby hospital for medical treatment of their injuries after the juvenile subsequently lost control of the truck --- running through a fence and then crashing into Quabache Elementary School. The building sustained substantial damage from the impact.

As officers processed the scene near the school, shell casings were found in the roadway near N. 6th and Linden Streets.

Investigation revealed the victim and other witnesses had noticed a gold SUV driven by the suspect come up behind him from a side street before the shots were fired.

The victim's brother told investigators that the run-in with Bass that night was not the first time. In fact, he said there had been previous disputes over the brother’s girlfriend and other issues, such as money.

“The brother] further stated that prior to this incident, Shawn Bass had driven past his mother’s house on Fourth Avenue and Bass was driving an SUV; he also said that Bass pulled a handgun on him in the past,” according to the court documents.

A friend of the brother  told investigators that Bass flashed a handgun at them earlier in the day. He also said he saw Bass in the Gold SUV on Fourth Avenue and that the suspect had ‘flipped them off’ shortly before the shooting.

The victim reportedly didn’t realize immediately after running off the roadway, then traveling the school yard and into the building, that he had been shot. He noted his brother and a friend were nearby in a Monte Carlo at the time of the incident.

“[The victim] further stated that he remembers hearing a loud noise and then he said that he was stunned and started to black out for a short period,” Trotter explains, adding that it was when the victim exited the truck and then felt the back of his head that he realized he was bleeding.  The driver of the Monte Carlo transported him to the hospital Emergency Room for initial treatment.
--
See related story

---