Indiana jail mistakenly releases Minneapolis murder suspect
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Authorities are searching for a murder suspect from Minnesota who was mistakenly released from an Indianapolis jail last week.
Kevin Lamarr Mason, 28, is charged with murder in connection with the 2021 killing of Dontevius Catchings, 29, outside a funeral in north Minneapolis.
Police in Indianapolis arrested Mason on Sept. 11 on that charge as well as two prior Minnesota warrants for firearms and parole violations.
Col. James Martin with the Marion County, Indiana Sheriff's Office said at a news conference on Tuesday that jail staff released Mason on Sept. 13, after a records clerk mistakenly removed two of the holds because she thought they were duplicative and Ramsey County later canceled the third.
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“This was an error, this should have not happened. Mason should not have been released from our custody. This was discovered shortly after he was released,” Martin said.
He added that the agency fired two clerks who were responsible for reviewing booking information.
Martin said that investigators chose to wait nearly a week before informing the public about Mason’s release to gain a “tactical advantage.”
“We have used this time, the quietness of the situation to not further run him underground and send him running further than we wanted him to,” he said.
Martin said that Mason has ties to Indianapolis and likely had been there for the last two years.
He said that a “round the clock manhunt” that includes the U.S. Marshals Service has been underway since officials learned of the error, but added that investigators “do not have any information that leads us to believe that the public is in immediate danger at this time.”