Wilbur Morton, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot once in the chest and killed in the early hours of January 29, 2017, after a large fight spilled onto East Market Street outside the Bu Da Lounge in downtown Indianapolis. He was taken to Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and pronounced dead. Detectives cordoned off the scene at 148 East Market Street, collecting shell casings and witness accounts amid confused and shifting statements.

By mid-February 2017 Indianapolis homicide investigators had identified 29-year-old Dontae Davis as the suspected shooter, obtained an arrest warrant, and arrested him at a Shelbyville casino; prosecutors charged him with murder and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. Those counts were dismissed in August 2018 after prosecutors said key witnesses would not cooperate and the evidence was insufficient to proceed, so no jury heard the homicide case. Davis had separate convictions for an earlier 2016 unlawful-possession and OVI-related case and for a 2017 battery; those matters were unrelated to Morton’s death.

Witness reports described a confrontation that began inside the club and spilled into the street before the fatal shot, but with the murder charge dismissed there is no resolution in court. If anyone knew Wilbur Morton or has information about that night, please share what is known with investigators.