Published: March 24, 2008 04:27 pm         

Teen shoots himself to prove gang ties

BROWNSBURG, Ind. — A Brownsburg teen allegedly shot himself four times to prove to friends and an ex-girlfriend that he had gang ties.

Zachary Booso, 19, was arrested early Sunday morning for filing a false police report after telling authorities that he was attacked and shot by an Indianapolis man.

Booso later recanted and admitted that the gun shot wounds were self-inflicted and from a single shot air BB gun that he had purchased earlier in the evening.

Booso initially told police that he went to meet a friend when he was flagged down by a 6-foot, 175-pound male wearing a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans. Booso told investigators that the man pulled a homemade weapon and demanded his wallet before shooting him in his right cheek, both shoulders, and his right thigh.

Booso was taken to Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis where investigators continued to probe him about the incident. Suspicions arose surrounding Booso’s story when he told investigators that the shooter was 5 to 10 feet away, but then later claimed that the shot to his cheek had first entered his mouth. According to a police report, Booso told police that he must have had his mouth open when the shot was fired. When questioned further, police say Booso admitted that he had inflicted the wounds on himself before throwing the BB gun into a retention pond.

Booso explained that his friends did not believe his claims to have gang affiliations and that the staged assault was intended to convince them otherwise.

Investigators contacted Booso’s mother, Carla Evans, who allegedly told police that her son had a history of prescription drug abuse. Ironically, he had become addicted to painkillers last December after shooting himself with a pellet gun to avoid returning to duty in the U.S. Navy.

Booso was arraigned and later released on bond Monday.



Brian Kern writes for the Hendricks County Flyer in Avon, Ind.