A Gary man was sentenced to 30 years on Wednesday for fatally shooting his estranged wife.
Garry Moore, 66, pleaded guilty in January to voluntary manslaughter, a Level 2 felony, under sudden heat. He said the gun went off while they fought over a weapon.
Deputy Prosecutor Tara Villarreal disputed that account, but admitted there were no witnesses. She said family told her Tanya Moore, 55, and her husband were separated by that point, possibly headed for divorce.
She went back for some stuff, and they argued before the shooting, according to Garry’s account.
It was a “very unfortunate situation,” defense lawyer Lonnie Randolph II said.
If it went to trial, there were “evidentiary issues” and he would have been convicted of something close to his plea deal, he argued. His client also wished to spare his family from a trial.
Moore understood he could likely die in prison, the lawyer said.
Friends and family told Villarreal that Tanya was an “all-around wonderful person.”
Garry fled to Alabama and was arrested there, she noted.
“I lost someone that was dear to me,” Moore said in court. “My life is over.”
Earlier in the hearing, Judge Salvador Vasquez asked Moore if he was OK doing the plea, since Moore said it was self-defense in a pre-sentencing interview.
“I have regret at how it all happened,” Vasquez read, quoting Moore. “It was self-defense.” His wife of 34 years was his “soul mate…. She has my heart.”
Moore said he understood and chose to give up self-defense as a legal defense.
Later in the hearing, Vasquez quizzed Villarreal on how it could be sudden heat — a shooting in the heat of the moment — if they couldn’t be sure Garry faced a physical threat.
Villarreal said they were partially going off what Garry told police.
“You deserve all of 30 years,” the judge told Garry. “Maybe more.”
In exchange for his plea deal, prosecutors dropped a charged for failing to register as a sex offender, dating back to a 1998 case.
Gary Police responded around 4:50 a.m. July 11, 2023, to their home on the 2200 block of Kentucky Street. A cop found Moore trying to do CPR on her. A gun was on the counter.
Moore said they had been married for over three decades. He claimed to police that their argument stemmed from when he cheated in 2017 and she “couldn’t let it go,” court documents state. She was in the process of moving out. He said she ran into their “office” to grab a gun.
Saying he was a “9th degree black belt,” he did a martial arts move to turn the barrel away from him. It went off, hitting her in the chest. He asked if she was OK, then called 911.
Investigators discounted most of his story.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office ruled her death a homicide. She had no gunpowder residue on her, contradicting Moore’s claims he was near her when she was shot. No drugs were found in her system.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
