The Post-Tribune reports that suspects were alerted that warrants had been issued when they received letters from attorneys who had been alerted by CourtView to existence of a new criminal cases. It is a common practice for Lake County attorneys to send out letters to potential clients to advise of their services when a new case is filed in court.

Writes Chelsea Schneider Kirk in Procedural blunder may have hampered sting:

As the Lake County Sheriff’s Department lauded a nine-month auto theft sting leading to charges against at least 20 people, a Gary Police Department official close to the investigation said warrants left unsealed for the suspects created problems for officers.

“They were already getting letters from attorneys,” Gary Police Cpl. William Clouse said. “You know what, we’ve never had an issue like this where … the information was out.”

The upshot is that police arrested at least 20 suspects, according to news reports.

a

Technorati Tags: car theft, chop shop, courts, CourtView, crime, Gary Police, Lake County Sheriff, Sting, warrants

Local Twitter user Gioperation asks the local newspaper about reports that were circulating on Facebook and Twitter that eight children were shot at a Gary, Indiana skating rink about 10 a.m. Saturday morning:

@nwi any truth to the 8 kids shot last night at the Gary skating rink- couldn’t find it in your newspaper online.

A search of the local newspapers in Northwest Indiana and Chicago Breaking News on Saturday morning showed no reports of the Friday evening shooting. 

Writes Gioperation about not finding the news of the skating rink shooting this morning:

@Chris_Hedges do you know why there is not reports of the shooting last night at the skate rink in Gary last night- buzzing on FB!

Gioperation in a response to one of my questions said that he had first heard of the Gary skating rink shootings via Facebook:

@Chris_Hedges Here is the one that started it all – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=feed&story_fbid=361015320488&id=1207179871

About 5 p.m. this evening, the Northwest Indiana Times reports the Gary, Indiana skating rink shooting incident via the Associated Press.

Authorities say eight teenage boys were shot while leaving a Gary skating rink where they were attending a concert.

The AP report about the 8 teens shot at the skating rink originated at the Post-Tribune sometime today:

Gary Police Cpl. Gabrielle King said Saturday “all chaos broke loose” when a fight broke out during the event and security advised attendees to leave Skate World, 4415 W. 5th Ave. in the Commons shopping center.

King said no arrests have been made. …

Police identified the wounded as: Shaquille Hughes, 15, shot in right side; Marcus Ratliff,14, shot in right wrist; Justin Bodley, 16, shot in the leg; Junan Washington, 18, shot in left ankle; DaVonte Biddings, 16, shot once in back; Marquel Croock, 16, shot in stomach; Kesean Philon, 14, shot in left leg; Stephan Danzy, 17, shot in left leg.

a

Technorati Tags: crime, Facebook, Gary, Indiana, Northwest Indiana, police, social media, Twitter

The Gary Reserve officers are supervised by the mayor’s office and “are not required to answer to any police officials on a regular basis,” according to the FOP, reports the Post-Tribune.

A strongly worded letter from the Gary Fraternal Order of Police to police agencies in Lake and Porter counties warns officers to use caution around Gary’s reserve officers and “not assume they can be trusted.”

After months of internal struggle between sworn officers and reserves, FOP Lodge 61 chose to make its position public because the city failed to address the issues, FOP President Del Stout said.

“For officer safety reasons, we are asking that you please pass this information on to your officers,” the letter, signed by Stout and Vice-President Dave Saviola, states. … 

Two Gary reserves have been indicted in federal court, another was shot to death at a Hammond firing range by a reserve last year. Others have criminal backgrounds and have failed to passed firearms tests.

a

Here’s the run-down on the war zone that broke out at the middle school.

Gary school security officers had to use pepper spray against a mob. Police arrested two middle school students and are looking for more involved in attacking a security officer, reports the Post-Tribune’s Sharlonda Waterhouse.

a

Technorati Tags: crime, Gary Indiana, Tolleston Middle School