A 19-year-old Hammond man has been identified as one of two people killed over the weekend in a double homicide in the north alley of the 800-block of Truman, and police say a man is now in custody in connection with the killings. The victims were Elijah Higgins, 19, and an 18-year-old man, both of Hammond.
Hammond police said they were investigating a double homicide that happened in the north alley of the 800-block of Truman, according to ABC7 Chicago. Police said the killings happened on Saturday, though the exact time was not released. One of the victims was identified as 19-year-old Elijah Higgins of Hammond, police said, while the other victim, an 18-year-old man also from Hammond, had not been publicly named as of the report.
Police said a man is in custody in connection with the case, per the same report. The station's account does not identify that person or indicate whether any charges have been filed, and those details remain unknown for now.
A Second Hammond Double Homicide in Recent Memory
This is not the first double homicide to rattle Hammond in the past couple of years. In a separate case from 2025, Anthoney “Mainski” Smothers, 29, of Gary, was charged with two counts of murder, three counts of burglary and one count of domestic battery, according to the Chicago Tribune. That case is entirely separate from this weekend's Truman alley killings and involved different victims and circumstances.
In that earlier case, the Tribune reported the victims were Gary Shanklin, 23, of East Chicago, and Montelle “Monty” Lang, 29, of Chicago, who were found shot to death in different parts of a stairwell. Hammond police were called around 3:30 a.m. on May 18, 2025, to the 500 block of Michigan Street after the shooting. Court documents in that case listed two other men who were with Smothers as potential shooters, and investigators traced a silver Chevrolet SUV spotted in the parking lot before the shooting to one suspect's mother. Smothers was held without bail, with a court hearing scheduled for June 12, 2025, the Tribune reported.
No such details have been released in this weekend's Truman alley case. The name of the second 18-year-old victim, the circumstances surrounding the shooting, and any potential charges against the man in custody remain unknown as Hammond police continue their investigation.
