A Highland man — who admitted shooting up meth earlier — is charged with fatally stabbing a Gary man after a confrontation.
Ruben Ortiz, 23, of Highland, was charged Tuesday with murder and two counts of misdemeanor battery in the Oct .16 death of Christopher Gonzalez, 24.
Gonzalez’s death was ruled a homicide. Ortiz’s next court hearing is Oct. 26 before Judge Natalie Bokota. Ortiz appears to be the only person charged in his death.
Police were called just before midnight Oct. 15 to the 2800 block of King Street. An officer said a woman was “screaming” in the middle of a field/empty lot and trying to save Gonzalez’s life.
Gonzalez appeared to have been stabbed in the chest, near his heart. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers found a metal pipe, flashlight, pack of cigarettes, a single red and black shoe and a ski mask nearby. They found the other shoe south of Hamlin Street.
The woman told police that multiple people — including Ortiz and a woman he was with — had been coming over and stealing her stuff recently.
Earlier that day, the woman said she confronted that woman over her missing stuff, who denied taking it. Ortiz got between them. Scared, the woman backed off.
Gonzalez told them — Ortiz and a woman he was with — to leave. They left and came back a couple times.
On the third and last time, a different woman — driving a blue Impala — gave them a ride back, because she wanted to get high there, according to the affidavit.
The Impala driver pulled up near the empty lot. The passengers — Ortiz and the woman he was with — got out and started to attack Gonzalez, who had walked over to the car.
Ortiz kneed the woman — who had her stuff taken — in the face. She then saw Gonzalez face down about 20 feet away.
“This is because of you,” the Impala driver, holding a hammer, told her.
Hours later, a witness at the Hard Rock Casino flagged down a security guard, pointing to a man and woman in the parking lot.
“They killed my friend last night,” the witness said. “They are getting away!”
Ortiz and the same woman from the fight were arrested walking on the 5400 block of W. 29th Avenue. He was barefoot and later admitted he lost his shoes. She admitted smoking meth earlier and had been taking the other woman’s stuff. Ortiz denied stealing anything.
Ortiz said he shot up meth earlier that day. He denied taking the woman’s stuff. Other people told him Gonzalez had an “axe,” but investigators didn’t recover anything from the scene.
He said Gonzalez “exchanged words” with the woman he was with and hit her. Ortiz said he attacked Gonzalez to “defend” her and blacked out at some point.
He didn’t think he killed Gonzalez, who was his “brother,” Ortiz said. After the detective posited Ortiz was the only one who could have killed Gonzalez, he asked for a lawyer.
The affidavit notes Ortiz was arrested on Sept. 11, 2022 on the 3700 block of Colonia Drive in Gary for allegedly stabbing a different man who asked him to leave. Ortiz had been arguing with a woman.
Ortiz does not appear to have been charged in the incident, according to public court filings.
