A 17-year-old boy was shot in the head Saturday morning inside Harbor Food Mart on Guthrie Street in East Chicago and later died at the hospital, according to police. The gunman, described as wearing a black ski mask, fled on foot and remains at large as investigators comb through the case with no arrests made as of Sunday.
According to ABC7 Chicago, police say the teen was shot around 9:24 a.m. inside the store at the 3800 block of Guthrie Street. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police told the outlet. His name has not been released. East Chicago Police Chief Jose Rivera Jr. confirmed the shooting occurred at Harbor Food Mart, located specifically at 3830 Guthrie Street, with the victim taken to St. Catherine Hospital, according to Region News Source.
East Chicago Police and the Lake County Prosecutor's Homicide Task Force are continuing the investigation, per the same outlet. The department is asking anyone with eyewitness accounts or information about the suspect to call its anonymous tip line at 219-391-8500.
A Corridor With a Violent History
This isn't the first time gunfire has erupted along this stretch of Guthrie Street. In April 2025, two men from Gary were shot and seriously wounded late on a Friday night at a Speedway gas station just blocks away at 3956 Guthrie Street, as reported by CBS News.
The Harbor Food Mart shooting also echoes a case from March 2025, when another 17-year-old, Justin Charleston, was fatally shot in the 3700 block of Dahlia Street. In that case, a 16-year-old suspect surrendered to police and was charged with murder, according to CBS News Chicago. It remains unknown at this stage whether the suspect in Saturday's shooting is a juvenile or an adult, whether store surveillance captured the gunman entering or leaving, or whether the victim and shooter knew each other.
Task Force Has Posted Strong Clearance Rates
The Lake County Prosecutor's Homicide Task Force, formed in 2023 to investigate killings in Gary and East Chicago, closed 83% of its cases in 2025 and supported convictions for 22 murder defendants, according to the Lake County Prosecutor's Office. East Chicago Police also assigned a dedicated veteran investigator to the task force, a move that helped the department solve and charge 100% of its four recorded homicides in 2024, the department has said. Citywide homicides in East Chicago fell from 11 in 2022 to four in 2024, according to the department.
St. Catherine Hospital, where the teen was taken, has served East Chicago since 1928 and now runs an emergency department that treats more than 30,000 patients a year following a recent facility expansion, per Powers Health. East Chicago, a Lake County city of roughly 25,500 to 26,000 residents located about 18 miles southeast of downtown Chicago, has a median household income of $42,125 and a poverty rate of 26.3%, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
What the Suspect Could Face
If police identify and arrest a suspect, Indiana law does not divide murder into separate degrees; a conviction carries a statutory sentencing range of 45 to 65 years, with an advisory sentence of 55 years and fines up to $10,000, according to Justia Law. Indiana courts can also tack on a mandatory sentencing enhancement of five to 20 years if prosecutors prove a firearm was used or discharged during the crime, per FindLaw.
For now, the shooter remains unidentified and unaccounted for, and East Chicago Police are relying on tips from the public to move the case forward. Anyone with information is urged to call the department's anonymous tip line.
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