Elijah Higgins was a beloved son and grandson who, at 19 years old, was remembered by his family as respectful and good-hearted. A resident of Hammond, Indiana, he was focused on living his life and working. His loved ones described him as someone who was never in trouble and whose sudden, violent death left his family with an unimaginable and heartbreaking loss.
On the afternoon of Saturday, October 3, 2026, Elijah and his friend, 18-year-old Tyrone Wade, were in the North Hammond
neighborhood. Around 12:30 p.m., police were called to a report of a double homicide in a north alley in the 800 block of Truman Street. There, they found Elijah and Tyrone, both of whom had been fatally shot in the head. The Lake County Coroner’s Office was dispatched to the scene at approximately 3:25 p.m. Neither of the young men was armed.
The Hammond Police Department’s investigation began immediately. At the entrance to the alley on Maywood Avenue, detectives recovered several spent 9mm casings. One witness reported seeing a light-skinned Black man in a light blue jacket firing a gun from the 900 block of Michigan Street. After the shooting, the man ran to a waiting vehicle, described as a light brown or tan Buick Enclave, which then fled south on Maywood Avenue and turned east on Murray Street. Another witness saw the suspect, who appeared to have a large afro stuffed under his hoodie, get into the car.
Investigators used surveillance footage from a nearby business and license plate reader systems to piece together the events. Video showed a tan Buick parked near Calumet Avenue and a man in a white and blue hoodie exiting the passenger side. This man walked east on Michigan Street. At the same time, four other men were seen walking in the area, with two, later identified as Elijah and Tyrone, splitting off to head south into an alley. The man in the hoodie was then seen on camera approaching the Buick, speaking to the driver, and then walking back toward the alley. He pulled out a black handgun, fired several rounds, and got back into the Buick, which then drove away.
Police traced the Buick to a Walmart in north Hammond where it had been earlier that day. Security footage showed a man matching the shooter's description, and a store employee identified him as a co-worker, 19-year-old Tayjuan Hall. The following day, an officer working security at the store noticed that Hall had arrived for work but had cut off his afro. Hall was arrested at the store. The Buick was registered to a family member of another Walmart co-worker, 20-year-old Daiyvon Upshaw-Howard. Both men were seen leaving the store in the vehicle at 2:14 p.m. on the day of the shooting.
Tayjuan Hall and Daiyvon Upshaw-Howard were arrested and each charged with two counts of murder. According to court records, an acquaintance told police the two men said they had left work to check on Upshaw-Howard's cousin, who was recovering from a recent gunshot wound. The cousin reportedly told them a group of boys was watching his house. Hall claimed to the acquaintance that they were chased by the boys and that a shootout occurred.
In the wake of the tragedy, Elijah's family started a fundraiser to help cover the costs of his cremation and to allow his mother and siblings to travel to Indiana to say their final goodbyes. The family expressed deep emotional pain and gratitude for any support and prayers. The case against Hall and Upshaw-Howard was proceeding through the court system as of October 2026. The Hammond Police Department asked anyone with information to contact Detective Crystal Taylor at 219-852-2979.
