Joseph Jeremiah Camensky, 28, Carthage
HANCOCK COUNTY — The Carthage man officials say fired a shot into a vehicle at the Kohl’s parking lot in Greenfield last week has officially been charged with attempted murder.
Officials from the Hancock County Prosecutor’s Office filed the paperwork in Hancock County Circuit Court Tuesday.
Joseph Jeremiah Camensky, 28, 200 block of North Winters Way, has officially been charged with a Level 1 felony count of attempted murder and a Level 4 felony count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon stemming from incidents on January 23.
Camensky is slated to have an initial hearing on the charges Thursday in Hancock County Circuit Court.
According to a 12-page probable cause affidavit filed by officials from the Greenfield Police Department (GPD), around 2:30 a.m. Jan. 23, a detective with the GPD was contacted about a shooting incident that occurred at 2223 Barrett Drive (Kohl’s Department Store) in the parking lot.
Officials noted in the report that the shooting occurred during a child custody exchange, and the suspect, Camensky, took his 2-year-old son with him, possibly to a residence in Carthage. The detective said there were officers on the scene of the shooting who located a spent cartridge casing and a vehicle with an apparent bullet hole.
Officials stated in the report that there were two women and another man, along with a 3-year-old child in the car when it was shot at. The 2-year-old child taken by Camensky, officials noted, was the son of one of the women in the car that was shot at, but was in Camensky’s care when he fired at the other car.
The woman who had the child with Camensky told officials she was supposed to meet him at approximately 12:30 a.m. in the Kohl’s parking lot for a child exchange. The woman making the exchange noted the other people came along because they were fearful for her, the affidavit said.
Officials reported in the affidavit that Camensky pulled up on the passenger side of the exchange car with both vehicles facing the same direction.
The affidavit states that Camensky got the child from the woman he had the relationship with, placed the child in his vehicle and then wiggled an object in his front pants pocket and told the mother of his child, “Ya’ll think I’m some kind of (expletive)” and the woman replied, “you’re weird.”
Officials were told Camensky began driving and intentionally struck the woman’s car with his own by turning his front end sharply and side swiping his driver’s side along her front passenger area. He then got out of the vehicle, the affidavit said, pulled out a handgun, said something and fired a round through the front windshield of the woman’s car.
The mother of the child stated they quickly left the scene and went back to Indianapolis before calling 911 to report the crime. Officials told them to come back to Greenfield. In the meantime, officials learned Camensky had dropped his 2-year-old child off at his ex’s mother’s house, who lives a few houses down from Camensky in Carthage, the report stated.
Officials were able to find a hole in the front windshield of the woman’s car and recovered a small metal fragment as evidence from the interior of the vehicle, as well as collected a cartridge casing of the spent 9mm round in the Kohl’s parking lot, the affidavit said.
When asked what set Camensky off and caused him to fire, the witnesses noted it was over a disagreement that had occurred several days prior involving both women who were in the car, the report stated.
Officials were able to arrest Camensky after they found him at his residence in Carthage, the report stated. Camensky initially tried to take off in his vehicle with police in pursuit but then surrendered without incident.
Camensky has been sitting in the Hancock County Jail ever since his arrest, awaiting his initial appearance as officials wrapped up the investigation.
Camensky, officials noted in the report, admitted to possessing a handgun despite knowing he could not legally have the weapon as a convicted felon. He admitted to stashing the gun elsewhere and told law enforcement they would not find it. He admitted to shooting at the woman’s vehicle, claiming he was in fear for his and his son’s life at the time because of the other woman in the vehicle.
Camensky told officials he and the child’s mom had split up about three weeks ago and she had left the child, and that he was the full-time father. He told officials the child’s mother called him after she had picked him up a few days prior and told Camensky to come and get him because he was crying and wouldn’t stop and she wanted to go party.
Camensky also told officials he and the other woman in the vehicle had gotten into a dispute, and he didn’t like seeing that woman during the drop off of his son and that the other woman had pointed a handgun at him and threatened him during the exchange.
Camensky told officials the two women delayed in making a police report so they could hide the gun the other woman pointed at him.
In addition to the recent charges filed, court records show Camensky is also facing a gun charge in another case. He was charged with a Level 5 felony count of unlawful carrying of a handgun with a prior felony conviction from an incident in June of 2023. That case was opened in Hancock County Superior Court 1 in June where a $1,000 cash bond was set and a not guilty plea had been entered on his behalf.
A change of plea hearing has been set on that charge for February 7.
