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Friday, January 4, 2019

Gunplay at the Safe And Sound Senior Citizen Social Club

     In October 2011, officers with a state law enforcement agency in Indiana called the Excise Police, stormed a private club in downtown Gary. The officers forced their way into the Safe And Sound Senior Citizen Social Club where they seized a craps table, cases of beer, and a stash of liquor. (There must not be much crime in Gary, Indiana.)

     At the time of the raid, thirteen members, ages 50 to 87, were in the club. A local prosecutor, in fulfilling his duty to preserve the peace and dignity of the city, charged the club owner with serving alcohol without a license (oh my) and promoting professional gambling. (We certainly don't want the good folks of Indiana gambling. Oh wait, that would mean shutting down the state lottery.) The club owner pleaded guilty and paid a fine.

     At 11:30 on the night of February 12, 2014, the Safe And Sound Senior Citizen Social Club was raided again, this time by an armed robber. A 23-year-old Chicago man named Kendell Reed slipped into the private club through an exit door seconds after a patron left the building through the same doorway. Because the exit door locked behind him, and the front entrance was secure, Reed's accomplice was locked out of the building and missed out on the mayhem.

     Inside the club, Reed announced the robbery and ordered everyone at gunpoint to get down on the floor. For some reason, instead of collecting the loot, Reed opened fire on the patrons. He wounded four club members between the ages 43 and 76. As the robber reloaded his gun, one of the patrons, himself armed, returned fire. The club member's bullet entered but did not kill the robber. It did, however, bring an end to the gunfire.

     Responding officers with the Gary Police Department had to gain entry to the club by blasting the front door lock with a shotgun. Officers found Kendell Reed hiding and bleeding in the restroom.

     Reed and three of the people he shot were treated at Gary Methodist Hospital. The fourth man Reed shot had to be airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center. All of the people wounded that night are expected to survive their injuries. Following his medical treatment, the authorities put Mr. Reed behind bars.
   
     In May 2015, Kendell Reed pleaded guilty to aggravated battery. The judge sentenced him to 10 to 14 years in prison.

1 comment:

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