A Gary man was sentenced to 55 years Friday after he admitted being in a group that opened fire on trick-or-treaters in Hammond’s Hessville section last year.
Thomas De La Cruz, 13, of East Chicago, was killed, while another boy, 13, was shot in the leg, police said, who arrived Oct. 31, 2021 on the 3600 block of 167th Street around 7:22 p.m.
Advertisement
De La Cruz was taken to St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, where he was later pronounced dead. The other child was taken to Community Hospital in Munster for treatment.
Desmond Crews, 24, of Gary, pled guilty in September to murder, according to court records. He was arrested shortly afterwards when another teen’s father helped chase him down.
Advertisement
Crews was the first man charged in the slaying on Nov. 3, 2021.
A group of teenagers nearby was targeted after one, 15, “exchanged” words with a man who returned in a car and opened fire while they were trick-or-treating on Halloween, an affidavit alleges.
The man — identified as Sheldon Stokes — and three others were charged with tracking down the group and opening fire.
Crews said that Stokes told a group in their car that “someone was going to die tonight” and he would find the “guy” who mocked him in a “clown mask.” When the men located the group, Crews realized it was “just little kids,” but opened fire anyway, because “he felt he had to shoot,” the affidavit said.
Richard E. Walker, Tariq Silas and Stokes, all then 20, of Hammond were charged Nov. 30, 2021 with murder and attempted murder, according to unsealed court documents.
A fourth man, then 18, Walker’s relative, known as “Woosh,” was arrested, according to the U.S. Marshals. A public record of criminal charges has not yet been filed. Silas, the driver, claimed in court documents he didn’t know the passengers were armed and didn’t shoot.
Delacruz loved his brother and sister, playing football, basketball, Fortnite and hanging out with his two longtime friends from elementary school. He was the “life of the party,” his mother Jasmine Anderson said last year.
