Vanessa Mack said her then-boyfriend Anthony Cruz had a “look on his face” on Nov. 17, 2022, as he turned west on 35th Avenue from Broadway Avenue after spotting Kervin Dixon.
“I told him, no, to leave him alone,” she said. “He didn’t listen.”
Within seconds, Cruz fatally shot him, Mack, now 21, said Tuesday.
Cruz, 46, of Gary, is charged with murder, and one felony and misdemeanor count each of unlawful carrying of a handgun. He is also facing a gun enhancement, which would add more time if convicted.
Special Prosecutor John Meyers argued Cruz shot Dixon in a budding war of words, while defense lawyers Bob Varga and Tom Olson argued a grainy IUN security video doesn’t show who was in the blue Saab. They argue Mack had access to the car and shot Dixon.
Mack is also charged with assisting a criminal, a Level 5 felony; possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony; and misdemeanor counts of assisting a criminal and marijuana possession, records show. Her next court date is in December.
Mack said Cruz fired a half-dozen shots “very close” to Dixon. She was in “shock.”
The men’s feud stemmed from that summer when her mother accused her of taking a settlement check worth at least $10,000. Over speakerphone, Dixon, her mother’s boyfriend, and Cruz jumped in the conversation, cursing and ended up threatening each other.
On Nov. 13, 2022, the couple returned from months in Tennessee. Mack went to get her cats back from her uncle. He sold one to her mom. When she went to her mom’s apartment, Dixon appeared at the door. He had a gun, cocked it, fired a warning shot, then pointed the gun at her head.
She reported it to an officer nearby. After he checked the apartments for a casing, she was told to go report it at the police station, she said.
The morning of the shooting, the plan was to go to her relative’s place in south Gary, Mack told Meyers. Along the way, Cruz spotted Dixon, who was trying to jump a car near 35th Avenue and Washington Street, according to court records.
After the shooting, they went to an apartment, where she told Cruz’s mother what happened. They went to a store where he bought some blue play-dough to cover a bullet hole in his car.
On cross-examination, Varga pointed out inconsistencies from her past testimony. Mack testified Cruz tossed her the gun as they were being arrested in Hammond that day. She clarified with Varga she had put it in her pocket for the bulk of the ride from Gary.
She was given immunity during her testimonies in the case to fully say what happened, Varga noted, and a deal to remain out of prison during her criminal case in exchange for her testimony.
Mack still faces charges but said on the stand she hoped most of it could be dropped at some point.
On Tuesday afternoon, Larry Saxton testified he was standing about 10 feet from Dixon trying to help him jump a car near 35th and Washington when 5-6 shots were fired.
In response to a written jury question, Saxton said he didn’t run, because it was clear the shooter “wanted (Dixon) dead” and “emptied the gun on him.”
On cross-examination, Varga played part of Saxton’s original police interview where he did not pick anyone in a photo lineup that included Cruz. That account changed in court nearly a year later, the lawyer argued, when Saxton “identified Cruz” as the shooter, in court, who was in a jail jumpsuit.
Gary Police arrived around 11 a.m. Nov 17, 2022, to an apartment complex on the 3500 block of Washington Street, documents state. Dixon was found shot, lying in the street. He was taken, clinging to life, to Methodist Hospital where he was later pronounced dead by the Lake County Coroner’s Office.
Witnesses said Dixon was having his car jumped when a light-skinned black man with a mustache drove up in a dark car and opened fire in his direction, then sped off, charges state.
A police database showed Cruz’s car and description matched the details witnesses provided, and Gary Police put out an alert to neighboring police departments.
A Hammond patrol officer arrested Cruz and Mack near Calumet Avenue and Michigan St., charges state.
Mack admitted having a handgun in her jacket pocket. Police later believed it was the same gun used in the shooting, documents allege.
The trial is before Judge Samuel Cappas.
mcolias@post-tribune.com
