The shooting happened shortly after the end of Hammond Day, a festival held in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park, at Highland Street and Columbia Avenue, by private organizers who graduated from Hammond High School in the city’s 3rd District, Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said. Police were breaking up the festival, which has been held for at least the last six years, when attendees moved the festivities to the smaller Memorial Park at Highland Street and Wallace Road, he said.
