On September 23, 2019, a violent shooting incident occurred in Gary, Indiana, claiming the lives of two men and injuring two others. Kerry Rice Jr., a 32-year-old Black male, was found deceased inside a vehicle near the intersection of 16th Avenue and Connecticut Street. The shooting also resulted in the death of 30-year-old Aaron Scott. Rice was the son of a Gary police sergeant, a connection that highlighted the tragedy within the local law enforcement community.
The attack took place
in the early morning hours, with officers responding to the scene shortly before 2:00 a.m. In addition to the two fatalities, Rice’s brother, Steven Rice, and an unidentified woman were wounded during the ambush. Reports indicated that a gunman fired multiple rounds from a semi-automatic pistol into the vehicle occupied by the four individuals. While Steven Rice survived this initial attack, he was tragically shot and killed in a separate incident in Gary less than a year later, on July 1, 2020.
Following a months-long investigation, authorities identified Michael Sherrod Smith, aged 35, as the primary suspect in the double homicide. Smith, who had resided in Gary as recently as June 2019, fled the state in the wake of the shooting. He was eventually tracked down by the U.S. Marshals Service Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force to Oakland, California.
On July 21, 2020, federal marshals located Smith at a residence in Oakland. When law enforcement approached, Smith attempted to flee on foot and discarded a firearm during the chase before being apprehended. He was arrested on two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. Following his capture, Smith was held in custody in California pending an extradition hearing to return him to Lake County, Indiana, to face trial for the shootings.
