Man Awaiting Burglary Trial Arrested For Gary Homicide
GARY, Ind. (STMW) -- A Miller, Ind. man scheduled for trial Jan. 13 on burglary, escape and other charges has been arrested on murder and criminal recklessness charges.
Jesse J. King, 20, shot Tramell Harper, 24, outside the victim's mother's St. Johns Homes apartment Dec. 27, police said. King is a resident of Miller Village apartments on County Line Road.
Harper's girlfriend was walking with him about 8:40 p.m. when they went to the gas station to buy food. As they returned, they saw a man standing near a tan SUV. Harper spoke to another man, who then entered the SUV, and Harper and his girlfriend resumed walking through the apartment complex in the 2100 block of Georgia Street. Harper told her that the second man in the SUV was someone "he had gotten into it with last summer," the probable cause affidavit states.
The girlfriend told Detective James Bond that she and Harper heard shots and Harper pushed her out of the line of fire, then started shooting at the second man from the SUV, the affidavit states.
Harper was shot in the chest and died on the scene. His girlfriend was not injured. Harper is the father of her young daughter, the affidavit states.
Witnesses identified King from a photographic lineup.
In March 2012, King was charged with burglary, intimidation, pointing a loaded firearm and misdemeanor carrying a gun without a license after his sister argued with a teenage boy at school. The girl told the teen she would get her brother after him. A short time later, the teen's home was broken into and a television was stolen. The teen told police King pointed a gun and threatened him. King was charged in April 2012 with escape.
He was out on $60,000 bail when Gary police arrested him on the murder charge.
Detective Daryl Gordon presented the case to Lake County prosecutors for the charges.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
