Category: Crime and Public Safety

A Gary man who police believe was behind several robberies in the city is dead after a Gary Police officer on Wednesday shot him during an altercation in which he pulled a machete on another officer. Gary Police Chief Derrick Cannon said during a Wednesday afternoon press conference that officers around 12:20 p.m. November 13 were conducting an undercover operation in the 3400 block of Maryland St., where an officer would attempt to purchase an item the man was selling through a social media marketplace. The department had received reports of a man who would meet with potential buyers of an item but then would attack them with a machete and steal their money, Cannon said. By late last […]

An autopsy by the Lake County Coroner’s Office showed a DeMotte man who died in September after an altercation with police at his home has determined that Rhyker Earl, 26, died of natural causes, had cardiovascular disease and did not show evidence of trauma.

A judge sentenced an East Chicago man to an 8-year split sentence Wednesday in a plea deal on a gun charge. In return, Deputy Prosecutor Judy Massa said they dropped the voluntary manslaughter case when Ernest “Alonzo” West, Jr. fatally shot his father last year.

After Trinidad Cervantes was nabbed for allegedly killing another driver on 165th Street in Hammond, his then-girlfriend admitted his stories changed. Elena Hernandez, who met him in high school, said the post-shooting call was brief. But, she hesitated when asked what he said. “Is that necessary,” she asked. Yes, the judge and prosecutors responded. “He said he shot somebody and was scared,” she said.