GARY: ARSON WORLD (PART 2)
Lew Wallace — Friday, 10.10.1997
Prelude to the Fire
On a 59-degree Friday evening, two teams met for a homecoming football game at Lew Wallace High School in Gary’s west Glen Park neighborhood. Horace Mann, a school ‘El Dub’ shared a storied history with, was the away team that Lew Wallace battled on the field. As the crowd enjoyed the game, 20-year-old former Lew Wallace student Gustavo McQuay — an alleged member of the Vice Lords gang — came to the event armed with a gun.
He proceeded towards the bleachers where rival gang members — a group of boys who were alleged members of the Gangster Disciples street gang — were hanging out. During the 3rd quarter of the football game, angry words were exchanged between McQuay and the rival group. McQuay waved them down to join him in the players' tunnel — situated between two sets of bleacher stands. Before arriving in the tunnel, witnesses saw McQuay pull out a gun and cock it. Oblivious, the rival gang members followed him into the tunnel.
Cheerleaders were performing their routines near the front entrance of the players' tunnel. Standing watch nearby were two Lew Wallace teachers — Lisa Mark and Yolanda Hall. The teachers pridefully, loudly, cheered the girls — along with a larger crowd of spectators in the bleachers nearby. McQuay and the rival gang members suddenly burst through the crowd of cheerleading girls, who were in the middle of their routine. The girls tumbled every which way.
Hall, oblivious to McQuay being armed, followed the boys down into the tunnel, yelling at them to “stop fighting”. She ended up directly behind McQuay. In a flash, McQuay turned and fired his gun over Hall’s shoulder toward the rival gang members giving chase. As Hall ducked to the ground, he fired three more shots — sending the crowd of spectators in the bleachers fleeing for their lives in a frenzy. In the stampede, they nearly trampled Hall as she was on the ground. McQuay retreated through the other end of the tunnel. He jumped over the gates that surrounded the school grounds and fled…all the while jumping fences of homes in the neighborhood.
One of McQuay’s shots struck an innocent game-goer; a young woman named Kellie Rayne Franklin. Franklin, 6 months pregnant, was shot in the head. She died two hours later at the hospital. Franklin was walking past the tunnel under the press box with 15-year-old Mahogany Mead. Mead was also shot, and hit in the upper lip. One of the rival gang members, a 19-year-old named Andre Johnson, was shot in the right forearm. Mead and Johnson both survived the shooting. GPD embarked on a nightlong manhunt to find McQuay. They cleared the stadium, taping off the field as people left. Three .380 shells were found behind the bleachers of the stadium.
The football game was called with Wallace leading 26–0.
This was just another shooting incident that the Lew Wallace family had to cope with that year. A few months prior — June 10, 1997 — a student was shot in the face during a fight outside of the Genesis Center auditorium during a commencement exercise. Lew Wallace was plagued by violent gun activity during the 90s — arguably more than any other school in the city. The uptick in drive-by shootings at or around schools caused the police chief to increase patrols around all of Gary’s high schools. In the summer of ’96, Lew Wallace QB Ramoine Larkin was killed during an accidental shooting at a friend’s home by Roy Akins Jr. — who was showing off his father’s .38 revolver.
Saturday, October 11th, 1997
Gary Police Department — 13th & Broadway, 5:20 A.M.
The next morning, Gustavo McQuay walked into the police station with his mother and uncle and surrendered. Later Mayor Scott King and city officials gathered at a news conference where police showed a photograph of Gustavo McQuay. King condemned the violence and announced he and the school board would consider banning nighttime football in the city. He declared all football games will be played during the relatively safe hours of sunlight, to the delight of Horace Mann coach James Piggee.
The shootings ignited a debate between Gary school officials who either wanted to move game times earlier or keep Friday night football games going but be more vigilant in curbing the violence in the community. School Board members took to the media to express their frustrations.
Lew Wallace High School Coach John Hoover expressed his fear and anger in a media interview following the McQuay shooting. James Piggee and his players all had to find cover before because of shootings on or around the school's campus. A few years prior, about 5 students died in 9 months as a result of off-campus shootings. He expressed sympathy for Lew Wallace.
Piggee’s own son, Marc, was shot on November 12, 1996, by a man who was jealous of his car. Piggee was in favor of rescheduling night games to the afternoon, fearing Gary’s sports program would die if nothing was done. Hoover disagreed with this idea — stating that when he was in high school some twenty years prior, night games were rescheduled earlier and they were still having problems.
“You have to ask yourself: Is it worth risking your life to come to a (Gary) football game?” — James Piggee
Charges were filed against Gustavo McQuay, the suspected shooter of three people. He faced one count of voluntary manslaughter, one count of attempted murder, and one count of aggravated battery and feticide. These were all felonies ranging between Class A through C. Parents of school-aged children joined the cry for tougher school security during games and tougher school security in all of Gary’s middle and high schools.
The shooting at Lew Wallace and another at West Side (no injuries or deaths) this October night once again shook Gary to its core. There were important questions to be answered. There were hard truths that had to be realized. There were people to bury and children to support. Football fields are riddled with bullets to repair. Embarrassment to deal with. Gary was certainly under fire.
Yet — when late Saturday night arrived — no one noted the winds picking up. No one noticed how it blew an almost consistent 10 mph by 5 am Sunday morning. The cool air of the past two days gave way to comfortable 64-degree weather. By 2 pm temps were upward of 82 degrees. No one but the weather service cared that winds were picking up speed all day. Every hour that went by, wind speeds increased from 10 to 16 with gusts of 21mph to 21mph with 31mph gusts.
The sun set as it usually does — disappearing over the horizon as it always does. The nighttime activity commenced as it usually does and for the first time since Friday, the city was quiet — with comfortable upper 70-degree south breezes caressing open windows across town. By 10 pm, most were asleep or preparing for a new day. Yet…how could they possibly know that the fire kindled in their bellies from the violence of the weekend would manifest itself into the physical world?