ANDERSON NATIVE DIES DURING SHOOTING

A "Little Debbie" box filled with money.

A garbage bag containing only marijuana.

Three people shot, one dead.

And numerous witnesses, one arrest and a possible suspect still on the loose.

Police are still trying to determine exactly what happened in a
shootout over the weekend that killed a brand-new father.

Marco Hampton, 29, died of a gunshot wound to the upper torso Sunday.
Hampton moved to Muncie in 2003. He was an Anderson native and a
Highland High graduate. Police say he died in his Muncie apartment in
what appears to be a drug deal gone bad.

Hampton had a 2-month-old daughter, MaKayla.

"He was overjoyed (about having his own child)," said Matthew
Hampton, Hampton's father. "He had told me he found the time to
finally become a man, to take and own some real serious
responsibilities. He was ready to get more serious about life."

Hampton fell into crime after his brother was killed in a car-train
accident in 1990.

"He became withdrawn," Matthew Hampton said.

Hampton's criminal history in Madison County consists of driving
while intoxicated, false informing, possession of marijuana and
contempt of court charges, according to Madison County jail records.
He has no criminal history in Delaware County.

Matthew Hampton said having a baby changed things for his son. But
Marco didn't have enough time left to become the man he told his
parents he wanted to be.

According to Charleton Maurice Agnew -- who told police he was a
friend of Hampton's -- he was inside the apartment at the time of the
shooting. He told police that Hampton had planned to sell marijuana
to Orlando Branson. Prior to Branson's arrival, Hampton borrowed Agnew's gun.

Hampton had an undisclosed quantity of marijuana in a garbage bag and
showed it to Branson, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Branson then produced a Little Debbie snack box of money. They
exchanged. Then Hampton said that something was wrong with the money
and grabbed the garbage bag back.

"We don't know what the problem with the money is (yet)," said Muncie
police Sgt. Steve Cox.

Agnew then told police that Branson then brandished a gun and the two
began to fight and wrestle and several shots were fired. Branson shot
Hampton, Agnew said.

Police are still trying to determine how Branson and Hampton knew one
another, Cox added.

Branson, 21, is preliminarily charged with murder. He is in the
Delaware County Jail. Bond was denied.

After the shooting, Agnew took back his gun and put it into the
next-door apartment; he then put the garbage bag of marijuana in a
car. He was later arrested on an obstruction of justice charge, a
Class D felony.

Hampton's live-in girlfriend, Danielle Davis, was in the kitchen at
the time of the shooting and one of the several shots fired went into her leg.

A witness told police that another man came to the house with Branson.

"We don't know who he is but we do believe there is another man," Cox said.

Police located Branson at Ball Memorial Hospital seeking treatment
for a gunshot wound to the torso that he stated he had gotten during
a craps game gone bad. He told police that he "had shot at the other
guy and then left without knowing if he had hit anyone," the probable
cause affidavit states.

Branson's criminal history was unavailable Tuesday night.

Reader Comments

11/16/2005 A garbage bag containing only marijuana. Why is the word
only in the sentence. THe H-B should worry more about reporting the
facts than creating sympathy for the victim. The H-B sensationalized
every story. He had a garbage bag full of marijuana which is a felony
in Indiana.