Court documents: Man paid to kill man injured woman in 2015 shootings
A Hammond man is facing more charges after he wounded a woman while trying to shoot a man he was paid $5,000 to kill, court records state.
Alexander Wilderness III, 39, was charged recently with two counts of attempted murder and one count each of murder, battery resulting in serious bodily injury and attempted battery resulting in serious bodily injury, Lake County court records show.
The charges stem from two 2015 shootings in Hammond that left Jasper James Valliant, 30, dead and another woman injured, according to charging documents.
Wilderness was already facing murder and attempted murder charges from July 2017 shootings in Lake Station and Gary, court records show. He remains in Lake County Jail.
On Nov. 20, 2015, a vehicle pulled into the parking lot in the 600 block of Gostlin Street, a probable cause affidavit states. Wilderness walked up to a white GMC Jimmy and shot through a window, the affidavit states. Two people were inside the GMC and a woman was struck and injured, according to the affidavit. On Dec. 10, 2015, Valliant was fatally shot on a sidewalk in the 4200 block of Dearborn Avenue, court records state.
Wilderness’ ex-girlfriend told investigators the two shootings “were connected,” the affidavit states. She said “this was a contract shooting” and Wilderness said he “was paid $5,000 to kill the male,” according to the affidavit. Wilderness intended to shoot the man in the November 2015 incident but “accidentally shot the wrong person” and he had “a guilty conscience” about shooting the woman, the affidavit states.
“Wilderness then told (his exgirlfriend) that only she, Wilderness and the man who paid him knew about this, and then threatened her and her children,” the affidavit states.
Investigators determined that bullets recovered from the 2015 Hammond shootings and from the Lake Station murder were “fired from the same firearm,” according to the affidavit.
On July 3, 2017, Joseph Martin, 40, of Portage, was fatally shot outside a garage in the 2400 block of Ripley Street in Lake Station. Wilderness was charged with murder and attempted murder in the case, court records show.
Wilderness was also previously charged from a July 17 shooting in the 4600 block of Connecticut Street in Gary that injured a man. He faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery, battery committed with a deadly weapon and battery resulting in serious bodily injury, according to court records.
Wilderness is scheduled to appear in court again Thursday, court records show.