Gary teen charged with firing shots in Highland afraid he would be ‘jumped,’ documents say

A Gary teen said he fired three gunshots in Highland at the ground after a motorist honked at him, saying he was scared he would be “jumped”, according to a criminal affidavit.

Trevor Kirk, 18, of Gary was charged Sunday with criminal recklessness, a level 6 felony and carrying a handgun without a license, a class A misdemeanor.

He made his initial appearance Tuesday with defense attorney Angela Jones. Magistrate Kathleen Sullivan released him on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond, requiring pretrial supervision. His next hearing is June 30.

Highland Police said Kirk initially lied about being shot at, later admitting he had fired a gun. He said he had been jumped several times in Gary and only fired the weapon at the dirt to “scare” the other person away, the affidavit states.

Officers responded to a shots fired call around 1:55 p.m. June 15 in the 8400 block of Parrish Avenue. Banasiak said a resident told police that after they heard the shots, they talked to a young man on a bike who said people in an unknown SUV fired at him.

Later that evening, a person came into the department to file a report of getting shot at by a man on a bike. Banasiak said the man was riding down the middle of Parrish, and when the driver honked the horn for him to move, the man fired three shots at him.

Through witnesses and video surveillance, officers confirmed the driver’s account and spotted him back in the area several days later. Police identified Kirk as the suspect. They went to his house in Gary where Kirk’s father declined to let police inside, but gave them the gun, charges state.

The man said Kirk bought it without his permission, but later took his son to Izaak Walton League in Griffith for target practice, documents state.