The family of Kenneth Williams Sr., a 67-year-old armed security guard, is demanding answers after Indiana State Police said nine officers opened fire on Aug. 28 during a confrontation at a Gary transit station, killing him.
Williams was working Friday night at the Metro Center transit station near 4th Avenue and Broadway when officers from the Gary Police Department and Lake County Sheriff’s Department responded to the station.
Investigators said Williams died at the scene. No officers were injured.
‘I Just Want Answers’
His relatives said they were not prepared for the news. Williams’ sons said the family received a call the following day asking them to identify his body. They said they had not been told what happened before that call.
“He was just a family-oriented person, you know, with family and going to family,” Kenneth Williams Jr. told CBS News.
Jonathan Williams described his father as more than a parent. He said the two spent time together almost every day.
“Man, he was great. He was like one of my best friends. He was hanging out basically every day,” Jonathan said. “I didn’t know that was going to be the last day.”
Another son, Raymond Brown, said the family was still trying to process Williams’ death while lacking basic information about the shooting.
“It’s my birthday, today, so I’m devastated. That’s all I can say right now. I ain’t got no answers. I just want answers,” Brown said.
The Incident
Indiana State Police said officers were dispatched to the intersection after receiving a report that Williams, who was working as an armed security guard, was behaving “unusually and erratically.”
According to investigators, police arrived at the station around 10:54 p.m. following reports of Williams being an armed security guard. Roughly 26 minutes later, at about 11:20 p.m., officers and Williams reportedly exchanged gunfire. Williams was pronounced dead at the scene.
Six Gary officers and three Lake County sheriff’s deputies became involved in the exchange of gunfire, according to investigators.
A witness, Kristin Lindsey, described the gunfire as intense.
“A lot of shots. It had to be like 100 or something shots rang out,” Lindsey said.
At least 100 evidence markers were reportedly visible around the park near the Metro Center. A nearby garbage can also remain at the scene with roughly a dozen bullet strikes, according to CBS News.
The number of officers who fired their weapons has become a major concern for Williams’ family.
“It feels like it’s overkill. You know, it feels like it’s too much,” Williams Jr. said.
All nine officers involved have been placed on administrative leave, which Indiana State Police said is standard procedure following an officer-involved shooting. The investigation remains ongoing.
A forensic autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday at the Lake County Forensic Science Center in Crown Point. The preliminary cause and manner of Williams’ death remains pending.
Demands for Justice
The shooting has also drawn attention from Families Demanding Justice, a national social justice organization calling for greater transparency from Gary officials.
The group criticized the circumstances surrounding Williams’ death and connected the shooting to the broader challenges facing the city following severe storms and a nearly two-week power outage.
They wrote, “If the ongoing oppression of the Black masses of Gary, IN, left without power and in the dark for weeks due to storms and systematic neglect at the hands of the government, wasn’t enough, the pigs killed a Black man at work as soon as the lights started to turn back on.”
The organization said it stood with Williams’ relatives as they seek answers and called for accountability for the officers involved.
They continued, “We demand that the pigs who gunned down Kenneth be named, charged, and jailed for his murder. We stand with all the people in Gary and across the country who have had enough of the unchecked brutality at the hands of the pigs and are ready to do something about it.”
For Williams’ family, the questions remain straightforward: What happened at the station, what led to the exchange of gunfire and why did their father, a 67-year-old man who went to work that night, never make it home?
Atlanta Black Star reached out to Indiana State Police for additional information about the shooting and is awaiting a response.
