DALEVILLE — Court documents reveal details about the confrontation at a rural cemetery that led to the July 22 fatal shooting of Randall Coomer.
The probable cause affidavits also detail how police tracked down four suspects, all Anderson residents.
Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman formally charged the following suspects Thursday:
• Alexander Geesy, 18, of 1709 Broadway, is charged with murder.
• Ryan Geesy, 22, homeless; Brandi Zirkle, 32, 933 Washington Blvd., and Dawn Schattner, 53, address not available, are charged with obstructing justice and assisting a criminal.
Zirkle and Schnattner (Zirkle’s mother) also are charged with neglect of dependents.
The affidavits from Delaware County police officers include testimony from each of the four suspects, as well as Stephanie Coomer, wife of Randall Coomer, and three juveniles who witnessed the fatal shooting.
Here’s what witness testimony in the affidavits reveals:
On the afternoon of July 22, the Geesys, Zirkle, Schattner and the three juveniles took two cars from Anderson to Sharp Cemetery in the 12000 block of South Delaware County Road 500 West in rural Daleville “to celebrate a birthday.”
Zirkle, the Geesys and two of the juveniles were riding in a red Ford Focus belonging to a sister of Alexander Geesy, while Schattner and one of the juveniles were in Schattner’s white Ford Explorer. During the ride, some of the occupants of at least one of the cars yelled obscenities and “flipped off” occupants of other vehicles.
About a quarter mile south of the cemetery at roughly 2 p.m., they encountered Stephanie Coomer parked in a car at the mailbox in front of her home along 500 West. Occupants of the Focus flipped Stephanie Coomer off and shouted profanities at her as she yelled at them to slow down. She later told police that the cars “came racing down the road and almost hit” her.
The Focus and the Explorer then continued northward to the cemetery, where both backed into the cemetery’s unpaved lane on the west side of the road.
Back at the Coomers’ house, after Stephanie saw the cars turn in to the cemetery, she pulled up the driveway and related to her husband what had happened. Randall Coomer then drove a truck to the cemetery to confront the cars’ occupants for speeding and flipping off his wife.
When Coomer arrived, he and Ryan Geesy had a verbal and physical altercation. After Ryan Geesy fell, Alexander Geesy drew a .40-caliber handgun, pointed it at Coomer and repeatedly ordered him to lie on the ground. When Coomer didn’t comply, Alexander Geesy fired a warning shot in the air.
When Coomer retreated toward his truck, Alexander Geesy fired a shot at him. Coomer ran away from the truck, and Alexander Geesy fired more shots in his direction until Coomer fell into a ditch.
After Randall Coomer had driven to the cemetery, his wife called his mobile phone because she was worried. She told police Randall confirmed the colors and models of the Focus and Explorer. Then she heard a “metal clanging sound,” which she believed was gunfire.
She immediately drove back down her driveway toward the road and saw the Focus and Explorer “peel out” of the cemetery. The two cars sped past her, with occupants again yelling obscenities and flipping her off.
The Focus and the Explorer continued southward on 500 West.
Stephanie Coomer then drove toward the cemetery, where she found her husband in the ditch, south of the cemetery on the west side of the road.
Randall Coomer, 38, was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency medical personnel. An autopsy later revealed that he had suffered a fatal gunshot wound through his lower right back and through his heart. The affidavits do not reveal whether Coomer was struck by additional bullets.
Coomer, who is survived by a daughter, owned a tree-trimming business. He was a graduate of New Castle Chrysler High School and served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
THE INVESTIGATION
Witnesses testified to seeing the Focus and the Explorer, with a Tennessee license plate, at the scene, and surveillance video showed the vehicles traveling together in the area just before and after the shooting.
Here are details of the investigation, according to affidavits:
About 9 p.m. on July 23, the night after the shooting, the Delaware County Sheriff’s office received notification of a white Ford Explorer with a Tennessee license plate at the GetGo gas station at 5408 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Anderson.
Surveillance video from the gas station showed Zirkle and the two Geesys getting into the Explorer. Zirkle had purchased items with a rewards card inside the gas station, and police traced her card to an Anderson address.
Video from about 1:30 p.m. July 22 at the same gas station was later reviewed by investigators. It showed the Focus and the Explorer parked at gas pumps. Alexander Geesy is seen in the video exiting the Focus and walking into the store. A handgun in a holster is visible on his hip. He, Ryan Geesy and a third person are then seen getting back into the Focus and, followed by the Explorer, leaving the gas station and heading toward Muncie.
About a half hour later, Randall Coomer was shot to death at Sharp Cemetery. The speed-limit drive from the gas station to the cemetery is about 23 minutes.
By July 25, police had located and interviewed Schattner and had discovered the red Ford Focus in a back alley at 1709 Broadway, Anderson. A family member told police she had let Alexander Geesy borrow the car at the start of July and that he had returned it to the Broadway address July 22.
On the underneath of the car, police found soil and grass consistent with damage investigators had seen to the unpaved Sharp Cemetery lane. Hanging from the rear-view mirror, investigators found a “Mr. Fog” lanyard matching a lanyard they had found at the cemetery.
A family member told police that she had bought a gun for Alexander Geesy a few days before the shooting. The gun matched the .40-caliber shell casings found at the shooting scene.
On July 29, police arrested Alexander and Ryan Geesy and Zirkle without incident at 3100 Tillotson Ave., Muncie.
The Geesys and Zirkle told police that they had driven toward Tennessee after the shooting. It’s unclear in the affidavits how far they drove before returning to the Anderson-Muncie area. Video shows them back at the GetGo in Anderson 31 hours after the shooting.
All three initially told police that Ryan Geesy had shot Coomer. Later, the three confessed that they had made up the story to protect Alexander Geesy, because of his young age, from prosecution for the fatal shooting.
The juveniles told investigators that Alexander had pulled the trigger. The names and ages of the juveniles are not listed in the affidavits. They are Zirkle’s children, hence the three child neglect charges against her.
Alexander Geesy (no bond), Ryan Geesy ($20,000 bond) and Brandi Zirkle ($25,000 bond) were being held Thursday at the Delaware County jail awaiting court hearings that had not yet been scheduled. Information about Schattner’s bond and jail status was unavailable Thursday.
