Charges were unsealed Saturday for a 16-year-old Chesterton teen accused of shooting a marijuana dealer and relative in Lake Station, court records show.
The Post-Tribune is not naming him due to his age. He is charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, two counts of armed robbery and two counts of aggravated battery.
Court filings show he was extradited last week from the McCracken Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Paducah, Ky.
He is now in custody at the Lake County Juvenile Detention Center, held on a $150,000, or $15,000 cash surety bond.
Documents allege the teen pitched the idea to rob a drug dealer to make some cash. His friend, co-defendant Jeremiah Rogers, 22, of Lake Station, helped set up the fake drug deal, charges allege.
During a bail hearing for co-defendant Jehad Colvin last week, Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Dafoe said the case would likely get upgraded to murder if one victim dies.
Three accomplices, Rogers, Rogers’ friend Colvin, and the driver Makhia Fraley, 19, of Rensselaer, are also charged.
Lake Station Police responded at 9:16 p.m. on April 3 after the victim called 911, saying he and the relative were shot. He couldn’t see, he told dispatchers.
A witness later reported a black Dodge Journey hitting a fence on the 3200 block of Minnesota Street. A man yelled for help.
The male victim was found shot in the head, while the passenger, his relative, was shot in the throat and chest, charges state. They were taken to a hospital. Investigators couldn’t talk to either victim at the hospital because they were so badly wounded.
Court records show Rogers’ phone texted the victim on April 3 between 4:40 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Rogers told the man to meet him at his aunt’s house on the 3200 block of Minnesota Street. It was a vacant house.
Police learned that the alleged shooter wanted to rob a marijuana dealer to make “fast money.” The shooter was messaging the victim on Rogers’ phone. Rogers called Fraley, his child’s mother, to pick him and the alleged shooter up, saying they were going to buy marijuana, then headed to Gary to pick up Colvin.
Surveillance videos show Fraley’s car parked a block away near Rosser Park on the 3300 block of Oregon Street at 9:05 p.m. The car appeared to speed off at 9:13 p.m.
The shooter, Rogers, and Colvin walked a block over to the victim’s SUV. The shooter asked to see the marijuana, appeared to grab or lose his grip on the bag, then shot three times into the SUV, court records state.
Rogers ran as the first shot was fired; Colvin and the shooter, who slipped in the mud, followed. Afterwards, they were “shocked” the shooting happened.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” the shooter claimed when asked why he did it, court records state.
Fraley drove to get gas and dropped them back off in Burns Harbor. The shooter appeared to be “making jokes” and “laughing” afterward, court records state.
mcolias@post-trib.com
