When Willonte Yates, Malik Perry, Dayonta McClinton, and three other young men arrived at a CVS on College Avenue in Indianapolis on a Tuesday night in October 2015, they were there to rob the pharmacy at gunpoint. It did not go as planned.
McClinton helped guard customers. Yates, who dubbed himself the "mastermind" of a string of similar robberies, led the charge with Perry. But their target, the safe, was equipped with a timed lock, meaning they would not be able to access the drugs inside for several minutes. Each passing moment meant the police could be drawing closer. So the group made off with a small bottle of hydrocodone—a sacrificial offering set aside by the pharmacy for situations like this one—along with kidney medication and cough syrup containing codeine.
A getaway driver brought the group to a residential area. Perry, dismayed at how little they had to show for their efforts, allegedly declined to share the paltry proceeds. He exited the car.
