Was the killing of Brian Lacey, 30, a premeditated murder or tragic accident? After suspect Gaylen Holland, 46, committed suicide using the same 9 mm handgun, authorities will never know for sure.

“It appeared there had been some issues between the two (Aurora men) for the last few weeks,” said Aaron Negangard, prosecutor for Dearborn and Ohio counties. “I don’t know the extent of their relationship. Lacey was living with Holland’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child.”

The Dearborn County Sheriff’s dispatch received a 911 call around 7 p.m. Monday, July 7, of a shooting in the trailer court located at 11600 N. Hogan Road near Aurora, according to Sgt. Noel Houze, Indiana State Police Versailles District public information officer.

When officers arrived, they found Lacey in a hallway outside of a utility room dead of a single gunshot wound to the head, reported Detective Shane McHenry of the Dearborn County Special Crimes Unit.

There was an eyewitness who saw Holland enter the trailer by jumping a fence, “then heard a pop and saw him leave.” Because of the recent Fourth of July weekend, the witness thought the noise was a firecracker. “When an ambulance arrived, he put two and two together” and talked to police, Negangard said.

Half an hour after the first 911 call, Ripley County Sheriff’s dispatch received another from 127 S. Meridian St., Sunman. According to Houze, “The male caller told dispatchers he had just shot Lacey.” During that call, Holland “claimed it was an accident. He went over (to the Aurora trailer) with the intention to scare Lacey and the gun went off,” the detective said.

Officers from sheriff’s departments in Ripley and Dearborn counties, the Sunman Police Department and Indiana State Police immediately responded to Apartment No. 4, the home of a relative of Holland. They secured the area and set up a perimeter. The ISP Emergency Response Team was called “because he was armed and the warrant was considered high risk,” Houze explained.

Never hearing a gunshot, officers waited, wondering whether the suspect was dead or alive.

At about 1:34 a.m. Tuesday, response team members made entry into the apartment, where they located Holland’s body seated on a couch in the living room. The gun used to shoot himself once right under the chin was found in his hand, the prosecutor said. There was a suicide note.

Holland did have a criminal history. He was arrested and convicted in the early 1990s for cocaine dealing-related charges, according to Negangard.

When asked whether the shooter was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol at the time of the incidents, he said, “I don’t know that. There was an open beer can in the vicinity.” Autopsy results were not available yet, McHenry noted Wednesday morning.

The investigation is being led by the Dearborn County Special Crimes Unit, assisted by the Indiana State Police, Dearborn County Prosecutor’s Office, coroner’s offices in Ripley and Dearborn counties, Ripley County Sheriff’s Department and Sunman and Milan police departments.

Debbie Blank can be contacted at 812-934-4343, Ext. 113; or debbie.blank@ batesvilleheraldtribune.com.