A Gary man avoided prison Thursday in a plea deal for a shooting at his West Side Leadership Academy graduation in June 2022.
Joshua Hughes, now 20, pleaded guilty July 29 to criminal recklessness, a Level 6 felony, court records show. The deal called for one year of home detention and six months on probation. Hughes can later petition to knock the charge down to a misdemeanor.
Police alleged one or more shooters fired first from across the street. The ceremony was over by that point and Hughes was in the parking lot for “family picture time,” his lawyer Andreas Kyres said.
A person in “dark clothing” wearing a mask had walked up to them wearing their caps and gowns in Lot B on the stadium’s east side and opened fire, security footage showed, according to court documents.
Hughes and his brother, then 16, were both in caps and gowns when they allegedly fired back toward “several individuals” across the street from the U.S. Steel Yard at 5th Avenue and Maryland Street, the affidavit states.
A woman, 19, was shot in the lower right leg, while a second man, 19, was hit once in the upper right chest, records state. Nearly 200 students had been scheduled to graduate.
Deputy Prosecutor Jacquelyn Altpeter said Hughes later had two battery charges added. Once she saw the surveillance video, it was clear the bystanders in a group nearby at the graduation were not shot by Hughes. They dropped those charges, which were filed before she saw the video, she said.
Police believe the one or two initial shooters have since died, Altpeter said.
How did it come to this, Judge Salvador Vasquez asked Hughes. Extra cops were undoubtedly there.
Hughes said felt he needed it for protection. Growing up in Gary, his house was burglarized multiple times, he had been robbed at gunpoint and his sister’s car got stolen from their driveway. Once he started carrying a gun, he started getting in trouble with the law in juvenile court.
Since then, he had a good job, planned to stay out of trouble and wanted to move on.
The judge noted a dotted juvenile record, but nothing since the Railcats shooting.
“Maybe this is a turnaround,” the judge said.
Hughes was charged as an adult and turned 18 a few days later. His younger brother was charged in juvenile court with the same counts, Kyres said.
The Post-Tribune is not naming the brother because he was charged as a minor. Hughes said in court that the brother may have gotten six months on house arrest for his role, but that could not be immediately verified.
mcolias@post-trib.com