Revelry nets guns, arrests

Jan. 4, 2006 

GARY — As fast as the bullets went into the air, Gary police were arresting shooters throughout the city on New Year’s Eve, Chief Garnett Watson said Tuesday.

Just as city officials announced last week, extra patrols were on duty Saturday night into Sunday morning with orders to arrest anyone shooting into the air.

“It’s a dangerous thing to do,” Watson said in a news conference where 45 seized weapons were on display.

Police confiscated handguns, semiautomatic rifles, sawed-off shotguns and other weapons in the hours before and after midnight, Watson said. He said the mobile ShotSpotter system helped police respond quickly to the addresses where gunfire had occurred.

“We were getting things like the back yard, 10 feet back,” Watson said.

About 15 people were arrested with weapons, including a west side man who ran into his garage and was reaching for a gun when Patrolman Charles Minard fired a shot in his direction.

“I felt the suspect was making an effort to grab the weapon and use it against me,” Minard wrote in his report.

Andre Mason, 35, was arrested at his home in the 1300 block of Whitcomb St. about 12:30 a.m. after Minard confronted him after hearing shots in the area. Mason is a convicted felon and is facing charges for illegally possessing a weapon, resisting law enforcement and criminal recklessness, Lt. Jack Arnold said.

Carl West was arrested with a handgun during the same incident.

Also arrested were Dillie Lee Roberts Jr., 48, who was standing outside his house firing a gun when police were in the area; Keisha Otero, 32, and Ambrosio Otero, 31, and two men visiting their Aetna home were arrested in the 5200 block of E. 13th Place.

Andre Smith, 32, and Terrance Durousseau, 25, were arrested at Otero’s home, where police seized 19 assorted weapons, Arnold said.

William Herrod, 22, was arrested after police saw him with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun at 415 E. 21st Place; Shawn Dupree, 25, was holding a .40-caliber handgun at 9th Avenue and Ralston Street at 12:01 a.m. and was arrested immediately.

Richard Thomas III, 22, had a gun when Patrolman Mike Clark heard shots and saw Thomas with a gun in the 1500 block of Tennessee Street; Kelsie Hall, 23, of Merrillville, was arrested and charged with carrying a gun without a license.

Watson, who patrolled on New Year’s Eve, arrested two women after he and Sgt. Thomas Pawlak saw a car weaving in front of them in the 3200 block of Grant St.

Crystal Barron, 34, was charged with operating while intoxicated. Her passenger, Gina Grimes, 38, was charged with public intoxication.