Trick-Or-Treater Killed, Another Injured In Shooting; Man Arrested Said 'He Had To Shoot'

An Indiana man has been charged with the alleged shooting and death of a 13-year-old trick-or-treater on Halloween.

Desmond Crews, 23, has been charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the incident. In the shooting, Thomas DeLaCruz Jr. of East Chicago was killed and another minor trick-or-treater was injured.

DeLaCruz was trick-or-treating with a group of children and was being accompanied by his aunt. During the investigation, one of the trick-or-treaters told police that he exchanged a few words with a man wearing shorts. The man allegedly threatened to shoot them before leaving, according to the court documents obtained by the Northwest Indiana Times.

After traveling several more blocks, the group of children noticed a silver car with five or six people inside staring at them. The car then parked near them and all the people in the vehicle got out, including the man in shorts. One of the men took a "shooting stance" when the trick-or-treater yelled for his friends to run. Then gunshots rang out.

Police responded to the scene at the 3600 block of 167th street Sunday around 7:30 p.m. Responding officers were able to apprehend Crews after the father of one of the trick-or-treaters chased him around the neighborhood, the Associated Press reported.

"He was being a kid out with his aunt trick-or-treating, walking with a group of kids," DeLaCruz’s mother, Jasmine Anderson told AP. "And some ignorant, sick person decided to shoot at kids."

Police found a 9mm semi-automatic pistol and two magazines in a storage barrel after they reviewed surveillance footage of Crews dropping an object in the barrel.

Later, Crews told the police that the man in shorts told the people in the car that "a group of people could have rolled him and someone was going to die tonight." Then the man pointed out the group of trick-or-treaters. Around that time, others in the car gave him a 9mm and started shooting.

Crew said he felt like he had to shoot. He claimed to have shot over the children’s heads. But, was not confident that he missed them as he saw one of the children collapse.

Police are investigating the incident and looking into other possible suspects.