Two more shootings in Lake County

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. -- A teacher driving to work Thursday told police he heard a pop before his rear passenger window shattered as he became the eighth motorist in nine days to have his vehicle damaged by a projectile in northwest Indiana.\nAlmost all of the vehicles damaged have been driving on or near Cline Avenue, Lake County Sheriff's Department spokesman Mike Higgins said.\n"We don't know what is causing it but we're leaning toward bullets," Higgins said. "It's some projectile. Whether it is shot from a gun, shot from a slingshot, it's a projectile."\nNo injuries have been reported. Another vehicle was hit Wednesday in Hammond and two more motorists reported objects hitting their vehicles on Monday and four were reported last week.\nHiggins said authorities have not yet found any bullets in any of the damaged vehicles and so far have only one eyewitness. On July 25, the first person reporting damage said he saw a man wearing a long trench coat shoot at his vehicle.\nThe victim Thursday was Wendell Turpin, 57, of Whiting, Ind. He was driving his Cadillac on Cline Avenue near Michigan Street when the window shattered.\nHiggins said the sheriff's department has added patrols to the area and is asking anyone who may have seen anything suspicious to call.\n"We're trying to see if we can figure out where the shots have come from," Higgins said.\nThe incidents have come after highway sniper-style shootings on July 23 on Interstate 65 near Seymour, Ind., and I-69 near Muncie. Authorities have charged 17-year-old Zachariah Blanton with murder for the death of a passenger in a truck in one of the I-65 shootings.