Boy, 13, killed while trick-or-treating
Suspect charged in Hammond shooting that injured another
A 13-year-old boy killed in a Halloween shooting in Hammond was a fun, loving and caring child, his mother said Wednesday.
Thomas Delacruz, 13, was out trick-or-treating with his grandmother and aunt when gunfire broke out, Jasmine Anderson said.
He didn’t want to go trick-ortreating with his 10-year-old sister, so she let him go to his grandmother’s house, she said.
They had celebrated all kinds of holidays there, like the Fourth of July, and “nothing like that ever happened.”
He had just celebrated his birthday on Oct. 1, she said. Her son loved his brother and sister, playing football, basketball and hanging out with his two longtime friends from elementary school. He was the “life of the party,” she said.
He loved playing video games, especially “Fortnite,” and was helpful to anyone who needed him.
“Everyone called him baby,” she said.
It was “evil people just do something like that,” Anderson said. “Ridiculous, just to shoot at a group of kids.”
A group of teenagers nearby was targeted after one “exchanged” words with another man who returned in a car, and opened fire at the group while they were trickor-treating on Halloween, an affidavit alleges.
Delacruz was shot in the head and killed, while another 13-yearold boy was wounded in the thigh, police said, who arrived on the 3600 block of 167th Street in the city’s Hessville section around 7:22 p.m. Sunday.
Delacruz was taken to St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, where he was later pronounced dead. The other child was taken to The Community Hospital in Munster for treatment.
The man who allegedly instigated the shooting remains at large, according to court documents. He is not identified in court records.
Another man, Desmond L. Crews, 23, of the 2500 block of Wabash Street in Gary, was charged Tuesday afternoon with murder and attempted murder, Lake Superior Court records show.
Crews told police that the other man 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.
The father of another teen in the group was at a nearby restaurant when his wife called, saying there was a shooting where their child was trick-or-treating.
He chased Crews down, who wore a yellow hoodie and black ski mask, documents said.
A Hammond police officer arrested Crews there.
After an initial police interview, Crews was released. An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday with orders he be held without bond, court records show.
Another boy, 15, who wore the clown mask, told police he “exchanged” words with a man he didn’t know wearing shorts across the street about 30 to 45 minutes before the shooting.
The man left, but threatened to get a .38-caliber pistol and shoot them, according to charging documents.
Several blocks away, a silver car drove by with between four and six people inside, staring at him, the boy told police.
They parked and several people got out. He recognized the man with the shorts, he said. When someone took a “shooting stance,” the boy yelled for everyone to run, police said.
He heard “many many shots fired,” documents said. His friend, the second victim, was wounded, police said.
Another witness said while running, she heard gunshots, a pause, then more shots, charges state.
Police later recovered Crews’ yellow sweatshirt he discarded, a 9 mm gun, and two magazines.
When he heard others in the car shoot, he felt he “had to” as well, Crews said.
Crews told police he tried to shoot “above their heads,” he “wasn’t confident” he didn’t hit anyone, since a child with a blue hooded sweatshirt fell to the ground and stopped moving, charges allege.
Anyone with any additional information or who saw anything that may be helpful is asked to call Hammond Police Detective Sgt. Chris Gootee at 219-942-4900 or Detective Sgt. Shawn Ford at 219-8522998.