15-year-old boy shot to death in East Chicago

A 15-year-old boy who was fatally shot last week in northwest Indiana has been identified.

Officers responded to a disturbance at Columbus Drive and Main Street in East Chicago at 7:23 p.m. on May 10, according to East Chicago police.

Officers arrived and several boys yelled out that their friend had been shot in a basement, police said. They ran down the stairs of an abandoned basement apartment and found the 15-year-old with a gunshot wound to the head.

Robert Thompson, an East Chicago resident, was pronounced dead at the scene in the 1900 block of East Columbus, according to police and the Lake County coroner’s office.

Anyone with information should call Detectives Machuca and Orange at (219) 391-8326; or the anonymous hotline at (219) 391-8500.