INDIANAPOLIS — When IMPD officers first responded to the 3500 block of W. 12th Street last night and found a woman down in the front yard of her home, they didn’t suspect that she had been murdered.
“Units arrived and believed it was a medical condition,” said IMPD Captain Mark McCardia. “At Eskenazi, at some point they discovered she had actually been shot and she was pronounced deceased a few minutes before 11 p.m.”
It was a 911 phone call from next door that brought IMPD patrol officers to the woman’s house.
”I heard a loud boom sound and then I heard the lady screaming for help,” said Jesus Bautista. ”I heard it from outside and close to the back of the house and I thought it was just her against the wall.”
When asked if the noise sounded like gunfire, Bautista said, ”Well, I wasn’t sure at the time but now that I think about it, it did sound like a balloon pop.”
The woman has been identified as 31-year-old Sabrina Gail Cowan, who another neighbor described as the mother of a 12-year-old girl.
While that resident said there had never been trouble at Cowan’s house, another neighbor said he had seen warning signs.
“Its happened multiple times where her and I’m assuming her boyfriend have been into loud arguments outside the house loud enough to hear and lots of commotion on multiple occasions,” said Luis Bautista.
Neighbors said forensic investigators were seen carrying bags of evidence out of Cowan’s house until 5 a.m. and detectives had recovered at least one piece of surveillance camera video from another home.
”That’s worrying not just for us but for the whole neighborhood because obviously, a gunshot is not something to be glad about,” said Jesus Bautista.
Anyone with information on the murder of Sabrina Cowan in Haughville last night is urged to call Crimestoppers at (317) 262-TIPS.
