Neighbors recall a young man at a front door, shouting a threat about killing someone. Minutes later, a 23-year-old inside the home had been shot and would soon be dead. The person police say made that threat vanished for weeks before walking into a station and surrendering.
What Police Say Happened
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and court records summarized by Law&Crime, 19-year-old Antwan Hayes is accused of murdering 23-year-old Kenneth Anthony Murff Jr. in November 2025 at a home in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Murff was the brother of Hayes’ ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, investigators say. Police and prosecutors allege that Hayes went to the boyfriend’s home armed with a pistol and opened fire into a side window, hitting Murff. Murff was taken to a hospital in critical condition and later died from his injuries.
Hayes is now charged with murder and burglary with a deadly weapon. He is being held without bond in the Marion County Jail, according to the Law&Crime report, and his next court date is scheduled for March 3. Court records will determine whether he ultimately pleads guilty or contests the charges at trial.
An Alleged Threat Before The Shooting
The case rests heavily on earlier statements and the account of Hayes’ former partner. According to court documents described by local Fox affiliate WXIN, cited by Law&Crime, Hayes allegedly made a specific threat after their relationship ended months before the shooting.
In those documents, Hayes is alleged to have said he would kill the next man his ex-girlfriend dated. Investigators say the woman took that threat seriously enough to try to keep her new relationship secret. She reportedly told police that she tried to hide where she was living and took steps so Hayes could not locate her.
Police say Murff himself was not the person dating Hayes’ ex-girlfriend. Instead, according to investigators, Murff’s brother was in the relationship with her. That detail will likely be central at trial, because it speaks both to motive and to whether Murff was the intended target or a person caught in gunfire meant for someone else.
The woman later told detectives that although she had heard the alleged threats, she did not believe Hayes would carry them out. She said she did not expect him to act on what he had said.
The Early Morning Of November 11
In the early morning hours of November 11, 2025, the ex-girlfriend arrived at her new boyfriend’s home in Indianapolis at around 4 a.m., according to police accounts. About ten minutes later, investigators say, Hayes appeared at the same address after trying several times to contact her.
Surveillance footage at the home, as described in court documents obtained by WXIN and reported by Law&Crime, allegedly shows Hayes approaching the residence carrying a pistol with an extended magazine. Several neighbors told officers that they heard him outside the front door, yelling for the woman to let him in.
At least some of those neighbors recalled hearing a direct threat. According to the probable cause narrative, witnesses reported Hayes shouting, “Open the front door before I kill somebody.” That line, if the court finds the testimony credible, links the earlier alleged threat to the violence that followed at the house.
When no one opened the door, investigators say Hayes moved to the side of the home. Police allege that he then fired multiple shots through a side window into the interior of the house. One of those bullets struck Murff.
Murff was transported to a hospital in critical condition. Medical staff were not able to save him, and he later died. The precise time of his death is not detailed in the publicly reported documents, but the charges against Hayes list Murff’s killing as a single count of murder.
After The Shooting: Flight And Surrender
What happened immediately after the shooting is another focus of the case. According to police, Hayes did not remain at the scene. Instead, officers say, he left with his ex-girlfriend in her car.
The woman later told police that she left with Hayes because she was “confused and afraid.” She also said, according to the Law&Crime report, that she had not believed Hayes would go through with his alleged threats before that night. Her account will likely be important if prosecutors or defense attorneys seek to explain her actions after the shooting.
Hayes then remained out of custody for several weeks. The Law&Crime story notes that he was described as being on the run following the November killing. No public reporting yet details where he went or who, if anyone, helped him while he was being sought.
On January 1, 2026, police say Hayes surrendered. According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, he turned himself in and was then formally arrested. Prosecutors charged him with murder and burglary with a deadly weapon, a serious felony under Indiana law that involves entering a building while armed and allegedly committing or intending to commit another felony.
The Charges And The Evidence So Far
At this stage of the case, Hayes is charged, not convicted. He is presumed innocent under the law unless prosecutors prove their accusations beyond a reasonable doubt in court or unless he chooses to plead guilty.
Public reports from Law&Crime and from WXIN, the local Fox affiliate in Indianapolis, outline several pieces of evidence that investigators say support the charges:
Item 1: Surveillance footage that allegedly shows Hayes arriving at the home with a pistol and extended magazine.
Item 2: Witness statements from neighbors who say they heard him threaten, “Open the front door before I kill somebody.”
Item 3: The ex-girlfriend’s account of a prior threat to kill the next person she dated and of Hayes later appearing at her new boyfriend’s home.
Physical evidence, such as ballistics, shell casings, or gunshot residue, is not described in the publicly available reporting. It is common for those details to appear later in court filings or during pretrial hearings, instead of in early summaries.
Similarly, there is no public information yet on any statements Hayes may have made to detectives after his arrest, or whether he invoked his right to remain silent. There is also no description in the reporting of any formal response from defense counsel disputing the allegations or offering an alternative narrative of the shooting.
Unanswered Questions Ahead Of Trial
The criminal complaint and early reporting provide a basic timeline. Hayes allegedly makes a threat after a breakup. His ex-girlfriend starts a new relationship and tries to stay hidden. He finds her, appears outside a home with a gun, issues another threat, and Murff is shot through a window and later dies.
What remains unresolved are details that could shape how a jury interprets that timeline. The public record does not yet explain how Hayes located the address where his ex-girlfriend was staying. It also does not show whether investigators found any digital records, such as text messages or social media posts, that might corroborate or contradict the reported threats.
There is also the question of intent. Prosecutors say Hayes threatened to kill whoever his ex-girlfriend dated next and then fired into a home where her new boyfriend lived. Yet the man who died, Murff, was that boyfriend’s brother. Whether the state presents this as an intentional killing of Murff or as an intentional attempt to kill someone else that resulted in Murff’s death will matter for how jurors weigh the evidence.
For now, the case sits in a Marion County courtroom, with Hayes in jail and a March hearing on the calendar. Until more detailed filings appear or testimony begins, the public picture of what happened on that November morning will remain incomplete, shaped mostly by a handful of witness accounts and an alleged threat that ended with a young man dead.
