A Gary man is charged after allegedly luring a man on Grindr, robbing and shooting him after a struggle by a gas station ATM.
Nehemiah Willams, 21, of Gary, was charged Saturday with multiple felonies.
He is in custody, held on an $8,500 cash surety bond. Williams is scheduled to make a formal appearance in court on Jan. 21.
Police responded at 7:19 p.m. on Jan. 9 to a CITGO gas station, 1564 Harrison Street, in Gary.
The victim, shot in the torso, was taken to the hospital.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Department’s High Crimes Unit arrested Williams with two cell phones a few blocks north, near 13th Avenue and Harrison Street. Cops noticed a gun thrown over a fence, about 10 yards away. Williams had the wounded man’s driver’s license and an empty gun holster.
At the gas station, they found a grey piece of clothing that appeared blood-stained.
The victim told cops he had a Grindr match named “BBC” around 1 p.m. and they planned to meet for sex, charges state.
When he pulled up near the 1100 block of Tyler Street, Williams directed him to the 1100 block of Polk Street. Williams got in the victim’s Buick and directed him to an alley between Polk and Tyler.
When they stopped, he and Williams went through a chain-linked fence inside a grey house. The victim sat briefly on a bed when Williams reappeared with a gun.
Williams told the man to do what he was told, since “nobody will hear (you) scream.”
He took the victim’s Calvin Klein red jacket and car keys while appearing to call someone to ask if they wanted a car. The man said he didn’t have any money on him, so Williams forced him to walk by gunpoint to the gas station.
Inside, at an ATM, the victim was “nervous”, and then decided to attack when Williams was bent over slightly. He was “not going down without a fight,” the victim told cops.
He grabbed Williams’ neck and hand with the gun and threw him down. Williams got control and fired twice – hitting him once in the torso, then missing the second shot.
Gas station cameras without audio captured the shooting. Cops later found the man’s debit card in the slot and two casings. They found his jacket back at Williams’ home.
He is charged with two counts of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, one count of armed robbery, two counts of criminal confinement, one count of aggravated battery, and battery by means of a deadly weapon.
mcolias@post-trib.com