2nd man faces charges in fatal 2017 drug deal

Despite his better instincts, a 20-year-old man went to a Gary apartment complex on Nov. 2, 2017, to sell 1.5 ounces of marijuana to his co-worker.

It was a setup.

Five years later, a second man was arrested and charged in the ill-fated drug deal that left a 16-year-old dead and the 20-yearold man severely wounded in the city’s Miller section.

Marcell D. Ellison, 23, of East Chicago, was charged Jan. 24 with murder in perpetration of attempted armed robbery, attempted murder and attempted armed robbery.

He was arrested Sunday. A public defender was appointed Monday.

His next court appearance is Feb. 10 before Lake Superior Judge Salvador Vasquez.

Diego Serna, then 16, of Hammond, was declared dead at the scene on the 400 block of South Huntington Street by the Lake County Coroner’s Office.

Serna was a student at Hammond Academy of Science and Technology, according to his obituary.

A second victim, identified as a 20-year-old man from East Chicago, was transported to Methodist Hospitals Northlake before he was taken to an Illinois hospital.

The East Chicago man told police Serna “was like a brother to him,” and the two had gone to Gary to meet Augustus “Gus” Johnson, a co-worker at Walmart, “to sell him two ounces of weed” at the Marquette Apartments, according to a probable cause affidavit.

“You still need that zip?” the East Chicago victim said in a 4 p.m. text message included in court records.

“Yea,” Gus said.

“Bet you want me to take it you?” the victim said at 4:21 p.m.

“Yea I’m in Gary tho,” Gus replied.

The 20-year-old reportedly texted “I’m here” at 6:13 p.m. and pulled up in a black Lexus at the apartment building next to a Dodge vehicle Johnson said he was in, court records show.

As the victim walked to the Dodge, “somebody came up from behind (the victim), put a gun to the back of his head, kind of hit him and said, ‘Give me that (expletive) or I am going to take it,’ ” the affidavit states.

The victim said “he was shocked and really did not know what was going on,” so he turned around and saw a man with a hoodie and black mask covering his face, court records state.

The person started shooting, and the victim fell to the ground and “could not feel his legs when he tried to move,” according to the affidavit.

As he tried to lift his head, “he saw the door open again, and the shooter put his arm out” and shot again before the vehicle drove away, court records state.

The victim said he “started calling out for Diego and believed he was in the car dead because he did not answer him,” according to the affidavit.

Officers responded to the scene around 6:30 p.m. and found Serna laying face down between a Pontiac and a Cadillac in a parking lot.

Police recovered eight spent .40 caliber casings, three spent 9 mm casings and three spent bullets at the scene, the affidavit states.

Officers also found a black pellet gun next to the 20-yearold at the scene, which the victim said he brought to Gary.

Johnson was arrested a few weeks after the murder in 2017. His court case is still pending with the next hearing on Feb. 9.

Court records also implicated a third Walmart co-worker. The Post-Tribune is not identifying the man, as public charges are not filed.