A Gary man was charged Friday with fatally shooting a man renting a room from him and his father — angry after the victim brought up his sex offender status.
Adam Mong, 43, is charged with murder, unlawful carrying of a handgun, battery by means of a deadly weapon and one misdemeanor.
He also faces a gun enhancement that would tack on 5-20 additional years in prison, if convicted. He is in custody, held without bail.
William Muchenburg, 30, and his girlfriend had just returned from the liquor store. When Mong made a comment about Muchenburg’s drinking, the couple countered they knew Mong was a registered sex offender.
As they were walking out the door, Mong shot Muchenburg, an affidavit states. The woman tried to drag him out the front door.
Gary Police responded on Jan. 18 to the 5500 block of E. 10th Avenue.
Muchenburg was pronounced dead at Methodist Hospital. The Lake County Coroner’s Office ruled he was shot at least twice from a distance. Police found a ghost gun in a bedroom. The crime scene appeared to show a three to four person “struggle,” police wrote.
As the couple walked back from the store, they noticed their bedroom light was turned back on. Mong walked in their bedroom and asked for a beer. Muchenburg’s drinking was “getting out of hand,” the affidavit stated. He told Muchenburg to stop bringing alcohol inside the home.
Mong then told the couple he needed to talk to them separately.
There’s “no reason for that,” Muchenburg said.
The woman said Muchenburg refused, because Mong “regularly made sexual comments to her” and they found out he was a sex offender.
The woman said she was unlocking a door, when she heard a shot behind her. Her boyfriend “began to buckle” when Mong, six feet away, fired a second time. Her boyfriend collapsed on her.
The woman told cops that Mong kept a gun under the sofa cushions or in his pocket.
Police interviewed Mong’s father, who said Muchenburg hit him and his son tried to intervene, fighting over a gun when a shot went off. Cops questioned that story, saying found two bullet casings, not one.
They discounted his interview, believing he wasn’t telling the truth on other details. The man later said his son was his caretaker.
Adam Mong told cops the couple were arguing and Muchenburg was “throwing (her) around.” He alleged Muchenburg grabbed a machete. He then started hitting his dad, before a single shot went off.
Police also discounted that account, saying it didn’t match the evidence.
Later, in a second interview, Adam Mong said he grabbed a gun and pointed it toward Muchenburg.
“What are you going to do, shoot me,” Muchenburg said.
Mong opened fire.
Police noted Mong was accused of beating another man on April 20, 2024 after he brought up that he was a sex offender.
“That was the same kind of thing,” Mong admitted.
“I don’t know how to repent to my God for murder,” he later said.
Records show Mong was convicted in August 2017 in San Bernardino, California after he was caught with more than 600 pictures of children under 12.
