“We were real good friends. It was stupid,” Evans said Friday afternoon while being escorted in handcuffs into the Montgomery County Jail. “I apologize (to his family). I hope they forgive me.”
Police were called to Evans’ apartment in the 1800 block of Riverview less than four hours after the shooting, where they found eight people fleeing .
They told police someone had kicked in the door and shot up the apartment. No one was injured.
“It smacked of retaliation,” Dayton Lt. Patrick Welsh said .
Welsh said Evans had declined to talk to police. But when told of Evans’ statements to a reporter that the shooting was an accident, Welsh responded, “We’ll take that as evidence that he pulled the trigger. If you pulled the trigger once, that might be an accident (but) multiple times is not an accident.”
Welsh said Evans and Valentine knew each other, living about six houses from each other.
“It appears to be an armed robbery that went bad,” Welsh said.
Evans went quietly with police at the time of his arrest, said Welsh.
He was booked into the jail on charges of aggravated robbery and aggravated murder, and the lieutenant said more charges are possible.
A number of weapons were recovered in the investigation, according to Welsh .
Police located Evans with the help of the public and technology in an investigation Welsh said was extensive.
Valentine’s slaying is the 21st this year in the city. Last year, there were 42 homicides in the city, the highest total since 2002 when there were also 42 slayings, according to the FBI.
According to Montgomery County Common Pleas court records, Evans was indicted last July for a break-in at New York Fashions in the 4100 block of North Main Street .
Last September, he was given drug/alcohol intervention in lieu of conviction, but a judge twice issued arrest warrants because Evans failed to abide by program rules. Both times the warrants were canceled when Evans reported to the judge.
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