An Iraq war veteran was gunned down in Indianapolis — reportedly over an iPad.
Sgt. 1st Class James Vester responded to a Craigslist ad on Wednesday and headed for the city’s west side, where he was robbed and murdered by two teenage brothers, according to police and media reports.
“He knew it wasn’t the best neighborhood, that’s why he went in the middle of the afternoon,” family friend Sarah Hill told the Indianapolis Star. “He was being careful.”
The married father of a 1-year-old boy wanted to buy the iPad as a Christmas gift for his parents, WISHTV reported.
“He had a huge heart,” Sgt. Major Tony Williams of the Indiana National Guard told the station. “He was the type of person you could always depend on.”
Vester lived with wife Jamie and their son Gavin in the tiny town of Lizton, northwest of Indianapolis.
A varsity wrestler and soccer player in high school, Vester and his wife had been married just a few months in 2005 when he deployed with National Guard for a tour in Iraq.
He came home in 2006 and was working as a mechanic for the National Guard. He also served in a ceremonial unit before his death, honoring fallen soldiers at funerals.
Authorities quickly focused on brothers Tryon, 19, and 18-year-old Tyshaune Kincade in the heartless killing.
A task force of Indianapolis cops and U.S. Marshals captured the two early Friday morning, police said.
Investigators confiscated two cellphones found in Tyshaune Kincade’s pockets and another three found in the white 1998 Buick he was driving, the Indianapolis Star reported.
The brothers’ have no felony convictions, but they had been arrested on serious charges in recent years, accused of attacking a man with chunks of asphalt in 2012 and threatening two 13-year-old girls with a gun in 2011, the paper reported.
The Kincades face charges of murder and robbery in the death of Vester. They’re being held without bail in Marion County Jail.
Friends of Vester continue to mourn the death of the young veteran. They’ve had raised $64,348 for his widow and son by early afternoon on Sunday through the online fundraising site youcaring.com.
On a mobile device? CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO.
