Man who may have been at homicide scene charged with possessing machine gun

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A man who police believe may have been present when Domenik Briggs was shot, has been charged with possession of a machine gun, according to court records.

On October 6, South Bend Police responded to W. Indiana Avenue and S. Chapin Street for reports of a shooting. When officers arrived on scene, they were redirected to an address on W. Indiana Avenue where they located Domenik Briggs with a gunshot wound to the head.

Briggs was taken to the hospital where he died from his injuries.

While assisting Briggs, a Glock semi-automatic handgun with an automatic "switch" device and a large drum magazine was found on the armrest of a couch just inside the back door of the residence, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Investigators say the automatic "switch" device is a part that overrides the trigger bar turning the Glock into a fully automatic firearm, reports said.

The handgun with the switch was taken into evidence. During testing, police test fired the weapon and found it was a fully functioning automatic weapon, and was also reported stolen out of South Bend, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Police received information Eric Richards Jr may be involved in the homicide, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Detectives obtained search warrants for Richards' and Briggs' social media accounts for Snap Chat and Facebook.

On October 13, detectives received information from the social media companies.

Richards' Snap Chat data included geo-location data that showed his cellular device was in the area of W. Indiana at the time of the homicide, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Briggs' Snap Chat data included video posted on the night before his death, which showed Richards inside Briggs' apartment on W. Indiana, reports said.

The video showed Richards sitting on the couch with a handgun in his lap, reports said. The gun was the same Glock with the large drum magazine and automatic "switch," according to the probable cause affidavit.

A review of Richards' Facebook account found before Briggs' death, he shared a video with several Glock semiautomatic handguns with automatic switches attached. The video also had #switches in the caption, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Richards has been charged with one count of possession of a machine gun.

The probable cause affidavit listing Richards as a suspect was filed on October 14. On Wednesday, South Bend Police said Richards is no longer considered a suspect in the homicide.