An East Chicago man is facing criminal charges for fatally shooting his father after an argument, according to court records.
Ernest West Jr., 50, was charged Wednesday with voluntary manslaughter, a Level 2 felony, and aggravated battery, a Level 3 felony.
He was arrested Thursday and ordered held at the Lake County Jail on a $5,000 bond.
East Chicago police responded July 14 around midnight to the 2100 block of Joy Lane for a reported murder.
There, they found Ernest West Sr., 86, lying in the front room. There were drops of blood on the home’s front entrance.
West Jr. had also been shot in the leg.
A Ring door video appeared to show West Jr. running to a neighbor’s home with a gun in his hand. West Jr. appeared to be limping and breathing heavily in the video. The man said there were always fights at the house.
Police interviewed West Sr.’s widow and other son.
“I can’t believe … everyday they was (sic) getting into it,” she told her son right before the interview. “Arguing about something. I didn’t know it would go this far. I told him to put the gun in a box and lock it up. He would not do it.”
She told police she didn’t know what happened, saying she woke up when the police came, and her husband may have killed himself.
A 911 tape later showed she called the police.
“Please please … my husband’s been shot. My son has been shot. Please send someone over here now,” she said, according to court documents.
“My husband and my son got into an argument and shots was fired,” she later said on the tape. “I’m upstairs.”
“I don’t know who was shot,” she said. “I’m scared to go downstairs.”
“He shot me,” a man appears to say in the background.
“I don’t know if my husband is dead or alive, all that is that he was shot,” she said. “That’s what my son said.”
West Sr. died from a gunshot wound. He was shot near the right side of his upper neck and the bullet exited out of his left neck.
When asked, another relative later told police West Jr. had schizophrenia. A different relative said West Jr., who lived with his parents, “bullied” the couple and “stole from them.”
mcolias@post-trib.com
