On a warm July night in 2021, Thomas Hill, 33, of Chicago, left a birthday party at the Up Your Alley entertainment venue in Schererville, Indiana, and rode north in a 2004 GMC van with a woman he knew. Surveillance shows three other vehicles leaving the lot around the same time; by the Highland–Hammond border the cars fell in behind Hill’s van. Near 175th Street and Indianapolis Boulevard, multiple shooters opened fire, sending at least 30 rounds into the moving van. The vehicle crashed into a GoLo gas station at 7306 Indianapolis Boulevard in Hammond around 12:15 a.m.; Hill was found unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds and later died at Munster Community Hospital. His passenger survived with serious injuries.

Investigators recovered numerous shell casings along the I-80/94 underpass and later linked an AK-47 seized in November 2021 to the attack. Prosecutors say the shooting was tied to a feud between the Gangster Disciples and the Black Disciples and say the assault was coordinated rather than random. Charging documents allege involvement by Damonte “MG Montae” Jones and Joseph O. Smith; Jones was charged in November 2024 and Smith was reported charged in December 2024.

Does anyone who knew Thomas or was at the party that night have information that could help clarify who was in the cars that followed his van?