‘That wasn’t the intention’
Man says deaths of teen girl, another man came while targeting gang rival
An opportunity to kill a rival gang member spun quickly out of control when a teen girl and another man were killed instead in the shooting, a man testified in federal court Wednesday.
“It was just shocking,” Jeron “Shadow” Williams, 33, said. “That wasn’t the intention.”
Driving on Beall Avenue in Hammond on June 29, 2015, there was a crowd and hourslong gathering on the block for a rival Latin King gang member who had been recently shot dead. At the vigil Williams said his Latin Counts gang spotted another King they believed killed an associate’s dad.
The thought was, “We gotta get him,” he said. “We finally found the guy who did it, so we felt good about that.”
After a house meeting was called, Romeo Castro volunteered to be the shooter, Williams said. Listening to a police scanner app, it was soon clear Castro didn’t hit the intended target.
A fellow Latin Count, Eduardo “Count Eddie” Luciano, is on trial this week at the U.S. District Courthouse in Hammond. He was indicted in connection with the shooting deaths that day of Lauren Calvillo, 16, and Christopher White, 33. He was indicted in a RICO case on three counts of racketeering, one count of conspiracy to deal cocaine and marijuana and one count of murder.
Calvillo was killed as she tried to get children safely inside when gunfire broke out between rival gang members in the 5500 block of Beall Avenue, court records show. White was also injured in the shooting and died months later on Dec. 5, 2015.
Castro was killed in Gary in December 2015 as he tried to rob someone else, according to court records and Williams’ testimony.
Four men — Jackson Street Latin Counts members Luciano, Robert “Homicide” Loya, Ivan “Bola” Reyes and Williams — have been charged in their deaths. Reyes, Loya and Williams pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, with Reyes and Williams admitting their involvement in and responsibility for these murders.
They are all scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Williams was offered the opportunity to avoid a life sentence in exchange for his testimony, federal prosecutors said. He was deeply conflicted, considering Luciano as a “brother,” he said.
After Reyes and Castro reportedly saw a group of Latin Kings at a vigil mourning the death of a member in the Little Waco neighborhood, they drove to Calumet City, Illinois, to get a car and rifle. Reyes drove Castro back to the
according to court documents, and Castro opened fire on the group using a rifle.
Calvillo’s mother, Ollie Hubbard, testified Wednesday that she was dyeing her hair, getting ready for work when she heard a “bunch of firecrackers,” she recalled.
She ran to see which kids set them off, realizing later her daughter was trying to get younger neighbors and cousins inside. The teen was facedown on her porch, Hubbard said.
At first it “didn’t even cross my mind” she was shot, adding it all happened very fast. She turned the girl over, finding a bullet hole on her lower left side. Hubbard was “hysterical” when she called 911, she said.
Her daughter was a “fighter” who survived a cancer bout at age 1, she said. Hubbard’s testimony is expected to continue Thursday.