Two Gary men accused of fatally shooting a pizza delivery driver during an attempted robbery in Northwest Indiana last year were hit with federal charges Thursday.
Terryante Flournoy, 21, and Ciontay Wright, 20, were indicted in federal court for attempted robbery affecting interstate commerce, conspiracy to commit robbery and murder resulting from the use of a firearm during attempted robbery in the death of David Shelton, the U.S Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Indiana said in a statement.
Officers responded about 8:30 p.m. Nov. 24, 2019, to the 3700 block of Washington Street in Gary for reports of a person shot dead inside of a vehicle, according to a probable cause affidavit from the Lake County state’s attorney’s office.
There, authorities found Shelton unresponsive and laying face down in the driver’s seat of a Chevrolet Cruze, the document states. Large boxes of pizza were found in the back seat.
Shelton was pronounced dead about an hour later, the document states. Investigators learned Shelton worked for Luigi’s Pizza, 3806 Broadway, and questioned employees.
One of the employees gave detectives three delivery receipts, saying one of them looked suspicious because it had two phone numbers, the document states. The employee said the man who ordered the pizza called back shortly after placing the order and asked where his pizza was, which was odd because the restaurant tells its customers it takes an hour for delivery.
Investigators connected one of the phone numbers to Flournoy’s mother, and used that information to trace his location to an apartment building in the 3700 block of Broadway in Gary, the document states. Authorities set up surveillance around the location and later took him into custody.
Flournoy was brought to a jail for questioning and detectives later also questioned his mother, the document states. While detectives were interviewing her, Flourney allegedly yelled at her “Don’t say s***t,” You don’t have to answer that” and “Mom don’t snitch on me.”
Detectives used data collected from Flournoy’s phone to obtain a warrant that led to the arrest of Wright and his girlfriend on Dec. 12, 2019, in the 3600 block of Buchanan Street in Gary, the document states.
In an interview, Wright’s girlfriend told detectives that Flournoy called Wright the day of the incident to set up the robbery, the document states. She said the pair left in the evening and when they returned Wright told her that Flournoy had shot someone.
The woman also told detectives that when Wright asked Flournoy why he shot the delivery driver, Flournoy initially said because he thought the driver had a gun but later said “this is the life,” the document states.
Both men had already been charged in Lake County with murder and attempted robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, according to Lake County court records. They are being held at the Lake County Jail on no bail.
