Five people killed in 2022 from homicides in Tippecanoe County
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Five people died in three shootings and one stabbing during 2022.
Lafayette's last four months of 2021 were peaceful with no homicides, as were the first four months of 2022.
Sunday, April 24 at Romney Meadows
The eight months without a homicide in Lafayette ended in the early morning hours of April 24 when Edward Robertson Jr. and Tommy Marshall were killed inside a Romney Meadows apartment on Phipps Court during a large block party.
Marshall, 34, and Roberson, 29, both died from gunshot wounds. Four other people were injured in the spray of bullets.
In May, police arrested Kevon Kareem McCaster, 21. He faces two counts of murder and three counts of battery — including battery resulting in serious bodily injury, battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery.
Additionally he's charged with criminal recklessness and three counts of carrying a handgun without a license, including a sentence enhancement charge and a felony charge for prior convictions.
McCaster’s trial is scheduled for April 11 in Tippecanoe Circuit Court.
Sunday, Sept. 4 at Walmart parking lot on Commerce Drive
Killings took another four-month break in Lafayette until Casey Lewis, 33, died in the eastside Walmart parking lot.
She and her boyfriend, Anthony Perez, 29, shopped at the Walmart store before returning to Lewis' minivan.
The two argued, and Perez wanted to leave because Lewis' screaming at him was drawing unwanted attention, according to prosecutors.
When Lewis refused to drive away, Perez got a handgun from the van's glovebox to intimidate her, according to prosecutors. He fired one shot inside the van to show Lewis he was serious, according to Perez's statements to investigators cited in a probable cause affidavit.
The second shot Perez allegedly fired struck Lewis as she was walking towards the back of the van.
Lewis grabbed her back, screamed and then fell to the ground, according to witnesses and prosecutors.
Perez ran from the scene and eluded police until Friday, Sept. 9, when he was arrested in Little Rock, Arkansas.
More:Six people killed in 2021 homicides in Lafayette
He was then extradited back to Lafayette, where he faces charges of murder and murder in the commission of a felony. He also is charged with attempted kidnapping with a deadly weapon, attempted kidnapping with serious bodily injury, attempted criminal confinement with a deadly weapon and attempted criminal confinement with serious bodily injury.
Court records indicate that Perez is scheduled to go to trial on Jan. 24 in Tippecanoe Superior 2.
Wednesday, Oct. 5 at McCutcheon Hall at Purdue University
Tippecanoe County's fourth homicide reverberated throughout the state, the country and into the international media.
Ji Min Sha, 22, stabbed his roommate Varun M. Chheda about 12:45 a.m. Oct. 5 while Chheda sat in a chair inside their dorm room in McCutcheon Hall, according to prosecutors.
Sha called police after the killing to report what he had done, according to prosecutors.
Police arrived at Chheda and Sha's first-floor room to find Chheda dead in the chair, a folding knife laying on the ground near the chair and Sha with blood on his clothing and on himself, according to prosecutors, who charged Sha with one count of murder.
Sha made two bizarre statements to reporters while in custody.
As he was walked into the Tippecanoe County Jail on Oct. 5, Sha responded to a flurry of questions from reporters about the killing by saying he loved his family.
A few days later as Sha was led into a courtroom for a hearing, reporters asked Sha why he killed Chheda, and he replied, "I was blackmailed."
Asked what he would say to Chheda's family, Sha said, "I'm sorry."
Sha's attorneys have filed motions for the court to determine if he's mentally competent to stand trial, and they also indicate they plan to use Indiana's insanity defense when Sha's case goes to trial.
Friday, Nov. 25, at Green Street in Lafayette
A neighbor in the working-class neighborhood around the Wabash Avenue found Terry Robinson Sr. dead in an alley near Green Street between Sycamore and First streets.
Police spent the afternoon combing the neighborhood after receiving the 2:15 p.m. Nov. 25 report of Robinson's killing.
Neighbors pointed out that a mailbox mounted on a front porch at the crime scene had a bullet hole that indicated a round passed through the back of the box and came out the side of the box. The exit hole on the side of the box had tape used by police to show scale in photos.
Robinson, 52, homeless in Lafayette, died from a gunshot wound, according to autopsy findings released by Tippecanoe County Coroner Carrie Costello. Neither she nor Lafayette police released where Robinson was shot or how many times he was shot.
Robinson's killer remains at large, but police indicated that they believed Robinson was targeted for the attack and there is not a danger to the general community.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Five people killed in 2022 from homicides in Lafayette
