Editor's note: This story has been corrected. It previously stated an unidentified shooting victim was acquainted with suspect Elysha Bedell. This was not the case, according to the Springfield Police Department.
Less than a day after Springfield police announced the arrest of Elysha Bedell, 19, suspected in the shooting death of Chaviz Nguyen, charging documents reveal a few details about the shooting that left Nguyen dead and a pregnant woman hospitalized.
Bedell and two juveniles are suspected of shooting Nguyen from one car to another on the night of Nov. 14. According to a probable cause statement from the Springfield Police Department, Nguyen was a passenger in a vehicle and was riding to go to dinner with the woman.
Bedell is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.
The woman reportedly told police she noticed another vehicle, a dark gray sedan, matching pace with her vehicle and then following her from a location on Kansas Expressway, east on Chestnut Expressway and then east on College Avenue. As she tried to turn onto Grant Avenue, she told police she heard “multiple rapid gunshots” and felt herself being shot at the intersection of College and Grant.
According to the probable cause statement in Bedell’s case, the woman who was shot is 29 weeks pregnant.
The two juveniles suspected in the shooting had their cases referred to the Greene County Juvenile Office, and their cases will be handled in juvenile court, according to a statement from Springfield police. Bedell was identified because he is 19 and considered an adult.
The probable cause statement lays out how police officers used traffic cameras, license plate cameras manufactured by a company called Flock Safety, surveillance footage and information from a vehicle’s GPS system to identify four suspects in the shooting.
The court documents also describe how police searched an apartment at Old Monterrey Apartments on East Montclair Street, near the intersection of Battlefield Road and South Jefferson Avenue. There, police seized firearms and a black mask believed to have been used in the shooting.
Bedell is being held in the Greene County Jail without bond. His next court appearance has not been set.
