EAST CHICAGO, IN – A late-night shooting at a Little Caesar’s Pizza in East Chicago has left the community in shock.
According to East Chicago police reports it happened Tuesday just after 10:00 p.m. when officers were called to St Catherine Hospital for a walk-in gunshot victim, marking the beginning of a startling series of events. Witnesses at the hospital, co-workers of the injured woman, reported the incident occurred at the Little Caesar’s Pizza on 4739 Indianapolis Blvd. They described hearing a gunshot from the restaurant’s freezer area, followed by the victim’s cries of pain. The victim, a female employee, suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
An alleged suspect, identified as 18-year-old Damietrus Baker of East Chicago, was seen leaving the freezer area shortly after the incident. Baker followed the witnesses and the victim to the hospital, where he was promptly apprehended by the police based on the witnesses’ identification.
The primary victim was later transferred to a Chicago hospital in critical condition. Another worker, a minor working at the time of the incident, received a graze wound to the leg but was treated and released.
East Chicago Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division is handling the case. Baker faces alleged charges including Criminal Recklessness. Police report it’s believed the shooting was not intentional.
Further information has been withheld pending the ongoing investigation.
