Kevin Lee Katona Jr. was 29 and a lifelong Northwest Indiana resident, a union carpenter from the Miller section of Gary who was known to family and friends for generosity and close relationships. In the early hours of Saturday, September 8, 2018, police were called to the 5000 block of Broadway at about 2:09 a.m. for a report of someone shot and found Kevin in a business doorway with multiple gunshot wounds. He told officers he had been inside when he heard gunfire and felt a sudden, sharp pain in his back.

Kevin was taken to Methodist Hospital Northlake Campus and then flown to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 8:30 a.m. Visitation was held on September 14, 2018, at Rees Funeral Home’s Winfield Chapel; funeral services were private. Reports describe his death as gun violence in Gary and say investigators asked the community for information, but no named suspect, arrest, or charges appear in those accounts. If anyone knew Kevin or has information about what happened that night, please come forward to investigators.