Formal murder charges filed against accused shooter in Monday incident

30-year-old Corbin W. Hippensteel is formally being charged with murder in the death Monday afternoon of 54-year-old Alejandro Flores of Columbus.

According to court documents filed by the Bartholomew County prosecutor’s office, Hippensteel, who was homeless, had been drinking and who had mental health issues, was visiting his grandfather Danny Sanders on Joseph Cox Court, when Sanders friend, Flores, came to visit. Sanders told deputies that he didn’t hear an argument but after only a few minutes Hippensteel threatened to shoot Flores in the head, pulled a gun and tried to pull the trigger.

The grandfather tried to get Hippensteel out of the house, but then heard the gun go off. Sanders fled the house and heard more shots go off.

Hippensteel was arrested a short distance away. A search of the house recovered a .22 caliber revolver with several spent rounds along with a box matching the handgun. A search of the homeless encampment where Hippentsteel stays recovered more shells and a bag with bullets was found in Hippensteel’s coat pocket at his grandfather’s house.

An autopsy Thursday revealed that Flores had been shot in the head multiple times in the  incident Monday afternoon at a Columbus mobile Home park. The Bartholomew County coroner’s office has listed that as the preliminary cause of death in the investigation but Deputy Coroner Jay Frederick said that they do not expect to have final autopsy results for several weeks.