An Indiana man was sentenced Friday to 55 years in prison for the murder of a 13-year-old boy, who was gunned down while trick-or-treating Oct. 31, 2021.
24-year-old Desmond L. Crews Jr. was the first of four co-defendants to be arrested in connection with a shooting that killed 13-year-old Thomas DeLaCruz Jr. and wounded another teenage boy outside the Williamsburg Apartments at 167th Street and Nebraska Avenue in Hammond’s Hessville section.
Crews pleaded guilty in September to one count of murder.
DeLaCruz’s family remembered him after the shooting as “the best brother, the best cousin, the best friend in the world.” He loved games, football and his family.
Crews admitted in his plea agreement that he drove with co-defendants 20-year-old Tariq Silas, 21-year-old Sheldon S. Stokes, 21-year-old Richard Walker, and another man with the nickname “Whoosh” after Stokes got into an argument with a 15-year-old in a clown mask in Hammond’s Hessville neighborhood.
Stokes and Walker each pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder. They did not object to a joint trial, which was scheduled to begin Jan. 30.
Silas pleaded guilty in April to aggravated battery, a level 3 felony, and could face a sentence of three to 10 years.
“Whoosh” was “yet to be charged” in the case, according to court documents.
Police believe a total of four people fired shots at the trick-or-treater in the clown mask and the kids in his group, including DeLaCruz, records show.
According to Crews’ plea agreement, he got out of a car driven by Silas, and he and “Whoosh” fired guns in the kids’ direction.
Crews saw DeLaCruz fall to the ground, and he and “Whoosh” got back into the car Silas was driving, records state.
Silas admitted in his plea agreement he saw Crews and Walker shooting guns and Stokes running around. After they all got back in the car, Silas drove a short distance and let them out, records state.
Hammond residents who witnessed the shooting spotted Crews and began chasing him, eventually leading police to him.
While Crews was attempting to evade police, he discarded a yellow sweatshirt and threw his handgun in a garbage can. Hammond police later recovered the items, documents state.
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