‘I heard the two gunshots;’ Neighbors witness fight turn into deadly Clark Co. shooting

PARK LAYNE, Clark County — A 48-year-old man is dead after a shooting in Clark County Sunday night.

At approximately 9:18 p.m., Clark County Sheriff’s deputies and medics responded to reports of a shooting at 204 Slayton Street in Park Layne.

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Deputies spent hours working to learn what led up to the shooting that killed Joseph Edwards of New Carlisle.

Clark County Communications received multiple 911 calls from neighbors on Slayton Street.

“Someone just shot a gun. Yeah, someone got shot, someone was shot,” one 911 caller said.

As dispatchers were sending deputies to the scene, they received a call from a man who identified himself as “Semaj” Sexton and claimed he shot Edwards in self-defense.

“I was just attacked and, uh, I shot somebody,” the caller said. “He ran up on me, I was trying to back up and he just started punching me and I fell against my car, and he kept hitting me.”

When deputies arrived at the Slayton address, they found Edwards on the ground suffering from one gunshot wound.

He was transported to a local hospital and died an hour later.

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Deputies found Glen James Sexton, 24, of New Carlisle, inside a vehicle in the driveway with his hands up.

Sexton told police he was at the residence to give Edwards a ride, but they had a “heated confrontation.”

He was arrested and charged with one count of murder.

Investigators say other 911 callers reported the two men were yelling and screaming before the gunfire rang out.

Irmarie Sanchez said she saw the confrontation.

“He came running up to the guy in the car and kind of shoved at him, so then the guy shoved at him back,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez and her mother said they saw Edwards shove Sexton, but he didn’t throw any punches. Instead, they saw Sexton throwing punches.

“And then he punched the guy in the face and then I jumped back and then I heard the two gunshots,” Sanchez said.

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“She saw someone hit the guy that didn’t make it,” Mariela Catala said.

On Monday, deputies said as the argument was going on, Sexton got a gun from the car.

That’s when they believe Edwards hit him in the face, and Sexton responded by opening fire.

Sexton is currently incarcerated at the Clark County Jail.

“It was scary for me but my main concern was the guy on the ground,” Sanchez said.

Sexton is expected to appear in a Clark County courtroom Tuesday.

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