A jury started deliberations around noon Wednesday for a Gary man charged with opening fire on a minivan, killing a man and wounding a baby inside.
Terry Horton, 27, is charged with murder and a firearms enhancement. He has pleaded not guilty.
Selena Saenz told police her fiance Nehemiah Martin, 25, was riding in her minivan on May 7, 2022 as they headed east on 17th Avenue in Gary when a Chevrolet Malibu pulled up on the right side around 6 p.m. and a young man opened fire. The male driver gave a “dirty look” before opening fire.
Martin’s son, then 17 months old, was shot in the arm.
Video surveillance appeared to show the other vehicle passing the minivan, before both vehicles coming to a stop, the side minivan door opening, then Martin falling out. The white car speeds off.
Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Dafoe said in closing arguments Horton was the shooter.
Saenz was there. Martin’s sister Tyeshia Mahone was down the street parked at a gas station when she heard gunshots and saw a car speed past.
Both women later identified Horton in photo lineups, Dafoe said. They were not “concocting” a story to point the finger at him, Dafoe said. Saenz, for example, said she recognized Horton’s face from around town, but didn’t know his name.
Mahone said Horton’s “nose” stuck out, while Saenz said she would “never forget his face.”
Defense lawyer Brandon Hicks questioned how police identified Horton.
Another sister, Tyronda Martin, testified Tuesday she went to the crime scene, then returned to the gas station the next day when she overheard a couple of people say “Terry” did it. She searched Facebook for “Terry” in “Gary”. When she sent Horton’s screenshot to Saenz and Mahone, they said it was the shooter. Saenz sent the photo to investigators, who included a different photo of Horton in their lineups.
“We don’t crowdsource suspects,” he told jurors. “We need evidence.”
Earlier, in a lengthy exchange with Lake County Sheriff’s Department Detective Kris Adams, Hicks asked if he had other evidence that showed Horton was there.
Was a search warrant executed for Horton’s home for a gun or clothes? Cellphone location data? Was a gun found? Was the car found?
Adams said there was no home search warrant because he couldn’t find where Horton stayed. He couldn’t figure out Horton’s cellphone number. Horton’s physical cellphone was never recovered. A murder weapon was not located, which wasn’t unusual, he said.
Horton owned a “beige” Chevrolet Impala, Adams said, citing BMV and police records. His car was never found. License plate readers – now standardly used to pinpoint locations in criminal cases – were not yet in the area, he said.
The detective said both women’s accounts were credible because their story matched the video.
One 911 call mentioned a Black man in his 20s with dreadlocks. Was he ever investigated?
It was impossible to determine who that could have been, Adams said.
About a year after the shooting, he subpoenaed Horton’s Facebook account. They found various messages with “anonymous” people accusing him of shooting Martin.
“(Expletive) that (guy),” Horton wrote, speaking of Martin, in response to one accuser.
Throughout the trial, lawyers went back and forth on exactly what model of car the shooter drove. Dafoe said in her final remarks to jurors that only the defense said it was a Malibu.
However, Mahone — Ubering a friend at the gas station at the time of the shooting — testified Tuesday she was sure it was a Malibu.
Prosecutors appeared to drop an attempted murder charge Wednesday on technical grounds.
In an unrelated murder case, Horton was inside a Clark gas station, 2725 W. 5th Ave., in May 2020 when his half-brother Aaron Sawyer opened fire and killed Dorell Townsend.
Sawyer said he reacted quickly, afraid Townsend would hurt Horton.
Horton was also charged with murder in the case before he pleaded guilty to assisting a criminal. He was released on a $3,000 cash bond in December 2020. He was out on bond when Martin was killed, then arrested again in May 2022.
Sawyer got 67 years in April, while Horton got time served.
mcolias@post-trib.com
