Police say Bertony Theagene entered his former girlfriend’s Indianapolis apartment armed before a confrontation that killed Venel Emile.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — A 50-year-old Indianapolis man faces murder, attempted murder and burglary charges after authorities say he entered his former girlfriend’s apartment with a gun, wounded her and fatally shot the man who was with her before being arrested near the scene.

Bertony Theagene was charged in connection with the Aug. 31 death of 33-year-old Venel Emile, according to court records cited in reports about the case. The surviving woman, whose name has not been publicly released in the reports reviewed for this article, told investigators that she and Emile were in a bedroom when Theagene came into the apartment. The shooting left investigators with sharply different accounts of what happened inside: The woman described an armed intrusion followed by gunfire, while Theagene reportedly told police that both shootings occurred accidentally during separate confrontations.

The case began shortly before 1 a.m. when Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were sent to an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Bayside Drive after a report of gunfire. Officers found a wounded man and woman, and both were taken to a hospital. Emile later died. Reporting based on the Marion County Coroner’s Office said he had suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen and that his death was ruled a homicide. The woman survived. Authorities did not publicly identify her in the reports reviewed for this story, and details about the extent of her injuries were not released.

According to the surviving woman’s account to police, Theagene entered the bedroom where she and Emile were lying. She got up to confront Theagene, she told investigators, and was shot before she could stop him. Police say Emile then moved toward Theagene, who fired again and struck Emile in the abdomen. Theagene left the apartment after the shootings, according to the account described in court records. The woman was able to lock the door, and investigators said Theagene later tried unsuccessfully to get back inside.

Theagene’s statements to detectives became a central part of the probable-cause account. He reportedly acknowledged going to his former girlfriend’s home because he wanted to confront her about another man being there. According to the affidavit as quoted in published reports, Theagene said he carried a firearm because he did not know whether the other man would be armed and wanted to be able to protect himself. That explanation did not amount to an admission that he intended to shoot either person. Instead, he reportedly maintained that the gun discharged accidentally in both encounters.

In Theagene’s version of the first shooting, his former girlfriend tried to take the gun from him and it went off during the struggle, according to reports citing his police interview. He gave investigators a similar explanation for Emile’s shooting, saying the weapon discharged as Emile moved toward him. Those statements are allegations documented as part of the investigation, not findings by a jury. The murder and attempted murder charges accuse Theagene of intentional criminal conduct, while his statements to police present a different account that could become important as the case moves through court.

Investigators also described what happened after Theagene left the apartment. An officer reportedly found him beneath or near a stairway close to the shooting scene while he was still armed. Police said Theagene tried to use the gun on himself, but the weapon did not fire. He then surrendered. Published accounts say Theagene later acknowledged that episode while speaking with investigators and said he believed he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Police took him into custody without reporting another shooting during the arrest.

A separate witness provided investigators with an account of the disturbance from elsewhere in the residence. According to the probable-cause information described by Law&Crime, the witness said she woke during the confrontation and heard a family member yelling that Theagene was trying to kill her with a gun. The witness reported hearing two shots and later learning that Theagene had left. Her account does not independently establish how either gunshot was fired, but it gave investigators another description of the commotion surrounding the shootings.

The charging decision places several parts of the overnight encounter at the center of the prosecution. Authorities allege that Theagene entered the residence without permission, arrived with a gun and fired the shots that wounded his former girlfriend and killed Emile. His reported statements supply another fact investigators considered significant: He acknowledged that he went to the apartment to confront his former girlfriend about the man who was there. At the same time, he disputed that the shootings were deliberate. The available reports do not describe any trial testimony, forensic findings or final judicial determination resolving those competing versions.

Emile’s death was also recorded among Indianapolis homicides for Aug. 31. Public reporting identifies him as 33 and places the shooting on the city’s west side near the Bayside Drive apartment complex. Beyond those basic details, the reports reviewed for this article provide little biographical information about Emile. They also do not disclose the surviving woman’s identity. That leaves the criminal case focused largely on the sequence described in the probable-cause materials: the arrival at the apartment, the confrontation in the bedroom, two shootings, Theagene’s departure and his arrest nearby.

The charges against Theagene remain accusations, and the available reporting does not indicate that he has been convicted in Emile’s death or the shooting of his former girlfriend. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until guilt is established in court. Law&Crime reported on Sept. 3 that Theagene was being held at the Marion County Jail without bond and that a jury trial was scheduled for Dec. 15. The publicly available reports reviewed for this article did not document a later change to that trial setting.

Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.