About four months after the city’s first update, Gary officials announced they have arrested and charged someone in the death of Kia Tidwell.
Tedric Guy, 20, is charged with murder, three counts of attempted murder, criminal recklessness and four sentencing enhancements. If convicted on all charges, Guy faces life in prison.
Guy had his initial hearing with Magistrate Mark Watson Wednesday morning in Lake Superior Court.
Gary Mayor Eddie Melton at a Tuesday news conference said he hopes the arrest gives the family some closure.
“We continue to seek justice for the Tidwell family,” Melton said. “We may have solved this case to a certain extent today, but there’s still work that prosecutors and everyone involved need to do.”
The city previously hosted a press conference on Sept. 9 asking for the community’s help to find suspects.
Tidwell was fatally shot on Sept. 6 near 5th Avenue and Grant Street in Gary. Tidwell, 42, died from a gunshot wound to the head, and her death was ruled a homicide, according to the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office.
At about 8:03 p.m. police were called to the McDonald’s on Grant Street, according to Post-Tribune archives. While officers were speaking with management at the scene, they saw people across the street and heard gunshots, causing them to take cover.
Recently unsealed charging documents allege Guy was targeting three men in an orange Dodge Charger in the 5th Avenue McDonald’s drive-thru. Instead, he shot Tidwell once in the head as she drove by.
Gary Police responded after someone called 911, then hung up.
“Someone is going to get shot,” a witness told cops they overheard, before gunfire erupted.
Tidwell’s red Volkswagen SUV crashed into a tree. The driver’s door was shot up and the window was shattered. Officers found 15 9-mm casings near the apartment across the street on the 1500 block of W. 5th Avenue.
Security video from 8:18 p.m. showed “muzzle flashes” toward the Charger. Its driver got out and returned fire. Two male passengers got out and ran. Cops found the vehicle — which was still in the drive-thru — abandoned.
Two passengers later admitted they were in the Charger, but declined to say why someone would want to shoot at them, or who the shooter was. Police couldn’t find the driver, but learned he “fled the jurisdiction.”
Several anonymous tips led to Guy.
Gary Police found a July 30 criminal recklessness report from the apartment complex across the street. His relative told cops Guy got angry after they got into an argument and left with his girlfriend.
“Well, if I can’t stay here, then you won’t be able to either,” Guy said.
He went to the back of the complex and started firing his Glock 17 handgun, in a bid to get the relatives kicked out of the complex “out of spite,” police wrote. It was a busy area and he could have shot someone then, Lake County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force Det. Roger Escutia wrote.
By late September, Guy had moved out.
Investigators later sent the casings from both incidents to a state police lab. They matched. Cell phone location data put Guy’s phone in the area an hour before the shooting.
Gary Police Chief Derrick Cannon said the public’s tips helped investigators make progress. Cannon declined to say whether Guy was one of the police’s original suspects.
“I’m very proud of how we worked together as a team, and I want to make sure that we include the community in that team,” Cannon said.
The city worked with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Chicago division. Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jason Gore said ATF and the Gary Police Department have worked together for about 20 years.
ATF helps the police department through crime gun intelligence and holistic data, including investigating cartridge cases, firearms tracing, and looking at phone, license plate and surveillance data.
Gore believes the city’s collaboration with ATF helps decrease violent crime throughout Gary.
“Although no investigation can turn back the hands of time, a pragmatic, systemic, strategic process for investigations of violent crime can reassure the citizens of Gary that there will be fewer victims of gun crime,” he said. “The rates of violent crime in the city of Gary are coming down. My promise is to make sure that this partnership … persists for decades to come.”
Gary’s homicides decreased in 2024, but the deaths still topped Lake County, according to numbers from the coroner’s office.
Kia Tidwell’s mother, Charlotte Tidwell, said it was a bittersweet moment for her to learn Guy had been arrested. Charlotte Tidwell said Gary needs more police to ensure that this doesn’t happen to another family.
“I don’t want to be a forgotten city,” Charlotte Tidwell said. “People are here, and I’m praying for them.”
She also thanked everyone who had been involved in the investigation, including Cannon and Melton.
James Tidwell, Kia Tidwell’s father, also spoke at Tuesday’s press conference.
The shooting happened not long after his daughter left his house, James Tidwell said. He added that he’s concerned about gun violence throughout the city and is urging for help.
“When my children were little, I was their protector,” he said. “But, in this case right here, I couldn’t protect my daughter because I didn’t know this was going to happen.”
