TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — A Terre Haute man who police say shot two people with the intent to kill them in March 2022 has pleaded not guilty.
Ervin M. Price appeared in Vigo County Superior Court 1 on Monday. Publicly available court records indicate Price pleaded not guilty during the hearing and was appointed legal council while being informed of his coming jury trial date in May.
According to court documents, Price is accused of shooting a man and woman in the early morning hours of March 17, 2022. Police said Price knew one of the victims had previously worked with drug task force detectives in a case leading to the arrest of Price.
On the night of the shooting, Police said Price went to an apartment in the 1000 block of N. 8th Street and fired a revolver striking a woman in the stomach and cheek and leaving a man with permanent damage after shooting him just below his left eye. Doctors later determined the bullet was lodged in the man’s brain.
Police said Price then took the gun to a friend and told her to stash it in a closet just after the shooting. Police said Price, who was on active probation in Vigo County, attended a probation meeting at 2 p.m. the following day before leaving town and driving to Florida.
Cell phone location data reportedly tracked Price from the area of the shooting on March 17 down to Florida the next day. Price was later arrested in Kankakee, Illinois.
While incarcerated, Police say Price used phone calls from jail to organize the retrieval of the weapon through an associate who told police they had thrown the gun into a trash can outside of a business a month before speaking to police. Price also reportedly continued to organize drug deals through the use of phone calls from the jail.
Price has been charged with the following;
- Attempted murder (x2)
- A level 1 felony
- Burglary with serious bodily injury (x2)
- A level 1 felony
- Aggravated battery when assault poses substantial risk of death (x2)
- A level 3 felony
- Battery by means of a deadly weapon (x2)
- A level 5 felony
- Unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon
- A level 4 felony
Price is still incarcerated, being held on a $150,000 bond with no 10% allowed. His jury trial is scheduled for May 30 at 1 p.m.
A review hearing in this case is scheduled for March 31 at 9 a.m. in Vigo County Court.
