Christmas motel shooting
A Merrillville man was charged Friday with criminal recklessness after he accidentally discharged a gun in a motel lobby on Christmas Day. No one was hurt.
Kenneth Coleman, 20, has not been apprehended. When arrested, he is ordered held on a $2,000 cash surety bond.
Merrillville Police responded Dec. 25 to Motel 6, 8300 Louisiana St. Coleman’s siblings told cops someone broke her car window with a landscaping brick out back. As the hotel clerk went back inside, video showed Coleman walking into the lobby.
The gun went off; a bullet hit the floor, then struck a coffee table.
Lake Station rape
A Lake Station man is charged with sexually assaulting a woman on Feb. 15 while she slept.
Jesse Silverthorn, 36, is charged with rape.
He posted a $3,000 bond Monday.
The victim told Lake Station Police she went out with Silverthorn and her relative the night before on Valentine’s Day. She woke up hours later, realizing he was raping her.
Before the assault, Silverthorn took the victim’s gun from her purse, because he “knew she would have shot him,” the affidavit states.
He called the relative at least 10 times the next day, denying he raped the woman. She put him on speakerphone during one call for the cops.
mcolias@post-trib.com
