A Gary man was sentenced to 67 years Tuesday for gunning down a man inside a gas station.
Aaron Sawyer IV, 26, expressed regret to his victim’s mother, Troial Andrews.
Sawyer, the gunman, was charged in the May 31, 2020, shooting death of Dorell “Dooda da Shoota” Townsend, 22, of Gary. He received 60 years on the murder conviction and another seven under a plea deal for a gun enhancement.
“I want you to understand, I forgive you. I really do,” Andrews told Sawyer.
The last thing Townsend said to his kids was, “I’ll be back,” she said. Was it worth it, she asked.
“I wish you would take accountability,” Andrews said.
Sawyer’s mother lost another son, fatally shot after someone followed him home from an East Chicago gas station. The woman now lost two sons to “stupidity,” Andrews said.
She comforted Sawyer’s mom after the trial. It was “hard,” but “impossible not to,” she said. As a mother, she could understand her pain.
Prosecutors played part of a jail call taped a day after the trial. Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Dafoe later argued it showed Sawyer was not remorseful.
Dafoe outlined Sawyer’s past criminal history, including juvenile contacts. Other cases as an adult included leaving the scene of an accident in Hamilton County and a domestic battery case out of Indianapolis.
There was no provocation for the Gary shooting, she argued. Three kids were just entering the gas station and another man pushed them away as the shooting started.
Dafoe later argued Townsend was hiding his gun and didn’t pull a weapon on co-defendant Terry Horton. She asked for 67 years.
Defense lawyer John Cantrell said Sawyer and Horton, Sawyer’s half-brother, didn’t go to start a fight that day. They randomly ended up at that gas station.
Sawyer’s brother was slain in February 2019, just over a year earlier. He was followed home and “killed in his own driveway.” The case is still unsolved, Cantrell said.
That put Sawyer in a heightened and “paranoia” state of mind, Cantrell said. Horton was verbally getting into it with Townsend. Others said Sawyer jumped the gun.
“He felt (Horton) and his lives were in danger and he took action,” the lawyer said.
He asked for 52 years – a minimum 45 years for the murder and seven for the gun enhancement.
Sawyer stood to face Andrews.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I really don’t know what to say.”
“I was put in a bad situation,” Sawyer said. “The choice that I made, I have to live with that for the rest of my life.”
“I pray for you every night,” he told Andrews. “I’m not a bad person, I was put in a very bad situation.”
“I love you. I wish I could talk to you personally,” he said, adding it won’t bring her son back. “I hope this brings you some type of closure.”
Earlier on the stand, Townsend’s girlfriend Hannah Brown, who had just stepped outside when he was shot, said Sawyer killed him “over nothing.”
“I hope it was really worth it,” she said.
Judge Samuel Cappas sentenced Sawyer. He took issue with the characterization that Sawyer wasn’t a killer.
“(If) you killed somebody, you’re a killer,” he said.
Sawyer’s actions were more of a “sneak attack,” he said. Sawyer was “the exact type of person” a person should “fear.”
Gary police were called at 5:30 p.m. May 31, 2020, to a gas station on the 2700 block of West 5th Avenue. Townsend was inside, lying by the front doors. The crime scene was “chaotic,” according to one responding police officer. A “large” crowd gathered, while one family member managed to get past the crime tape and walked up to the gas station’s doors before they were grabbed and removed, according to the affidavit.
Security footage showed Townsend and a woman pulled into the gas station at 5 p.m. Just after, Horton and Sawyer pulled up and followed the pair inside, charges state. Sawyer appeared to adjust a gun. Horton “traded” words with Townsend.
Sawyer pulled a gun from his pants. He “stopped as three children (and an older woman) walked by,” then shot Townsend multiple times, the affidavit alleges. The woman, near the doors, ran to her car as glass shattered around her, charges state.
After a news release went out, other Gary officers identified the second man — wearing red pants, a red hat and a white shirt — as Horton.
The alleged shooter — who was wearing black shorts, a black shirt and hat — was not initially known. A tip led detectives to Sawyer’s relative, who was incarcerated. Sawyer was listed as the only man in his contacts.
Horton pleaded guilty to assisting a criminal in exchange for his testimony. He is scheduled to get sentenced Wednesday.
Cantrell previously argued it was self-defense and believed his client thought he had to shoot first.
“I hoped we could have gotten into the street name (Dooda da Shoota), but the court wouldn’t permit us to talk about it,” he said after the trial.
mcolias@post-trib.com
