On the night of the Fourth of July in East Chicago, Indiana, a conversation between two people ended in the tragic death of 35-year-old Jerome Scott. It was approximately 10:30 p.m. when police were called to the 3600 block of Superior Court, where they found Scott with a single gunshot wound to his stomach. He was able to tell officers that he had been shot while talking to an unknown individual inside a vehicle.
Emergency medics arrived at the scene and transported Scott to the
University of Chicago Hospital for treatment. Despite their efforts, he succumbed to his injuries in the early morning hours of July 5, 2024. The preliminary investigation indicated that a single gunshot was fired during the conversation, after which the vehicle immediately fled the scene.
The investigation into the male victim's death was taken over by the Lake County Homicide Task Force. Their work led to the identification of a suspect, and on July 12, 2024, the Lake County Prosecutor's Office announced that 40-year-old Maya D. Washington of Gary, Indiana, had been charged with Felony Murder. Washington was subsequently taken into custody and is being held at the Lake County Sheriff Department Jail.
