Two men are dead after a barrage of gunfire erupted outside OJ's GameOver bar on West 151st Street in East Chicago early Sunday morning. One victim was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other died after being rushed to a nearby hospital. Police have not released either man's identity, and no arrests or suspects have been announced.
ShotSpotter Picked Up 32 Rounds in Seconds
According to CBS News, East Chicago police said officers were dispatched at about 1:48 a.m. after ShotSpotter technology detected gunfire in the 700 block of West 151st Street. The report cited police saying ShotSpotter picked up 17 rounds fired, followed seconds later by 15 more rounds at the same spot — 32 shots in total within moments of each other.
Officers arriving at the scene found two men lying on the ground with gunshot wounds, with semi-automatic handguns next to their bodies, abc7chicago.com reported. Both men had suffered multiple gunshot wounds, per the CBS News account. One was pronounced dead at the scene; the second was taken to Powers Health St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, where he later died.
Investigators Withhold Names Pending Family Notification
As of Sunday, the victims' identities had not been released while authorities worked to notify their families, the same report noted. The Lake County Homicide Task Force, the Lake County Sheriff's Department Crime Scene Investigation Division, and the Lake County Coroner's Office were all called in to assist East Chicago police with the investigation, according to abc7chicago.com.
East Chicago Police Chief Jose Rivera said he planned to speak publicly about the investigation at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, the outlet reported. Police asked anyone with information about the shooting to call the East Chicago Police Department tip line at 219-391-8500.
A Violent Night Against a Backdrop of Falling Homicide Numbers
The shooting lands amid a broader trend of declining violence in the region. Homicide rates in Gary and East Chicago fell by about 46% from 2022 to 2025, according to the Chicago Tribune, citing the Lake County Prosecutor's Office. The same report found the 2025 homicide charge and closure rate across both cities stood at 83%.
The Lake County Homicide Task Force, which is now assisting in this case, was created in 2023 and draws detectives from the Indiana State Police, Indiana State Excise Police, East Chicago Police Department, and Gary Police Department, with cold-case help from the Hobart Police Department, per the Tribune's reporting. Separately, the NWI Times reported that homicides across Northwest Indiana fell again in 2025, continuing a multiyear decline in fatal violence that began after the region's pandemic-era peak, with coroner's office data showing numbers down overall since 2024.
Gun violence has continued to touch East Chicago even as the broader numbers improve. In a separate case reported by the NWI Times, 22-year-old Jontavis Pearson was identified as the victim of a homicide after sustaining gunshot wounds, with an autopsy confirming his cause of death as homicide due to multiple gunshot wounds. That case remains unconnected to Sunday's shooting outside OJ's GameOver bar, based on available reporting.
