Ex-candidate, father among 4 charged in fatal gang shooting

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. – A former city council candidate whose 7-year-old son was shot to death on the eve of Tuesday’s primary election has been charged along with his father and two other men in the gang shootout that led to the boy’s death.\nAccording to a probable cause affidavit, Angel Silvas died in a hail of bullets Monday after his father confronted gang members, shouting, “I got my kid in the car and you’re gonna disrespect me?” \nOn Friday, Lake County prosecutors charged Francisco Jose Avila, 20, of Hammond, in the boy’s murder. Henry Gonzales, 21, of Hammond, was charged with assisting a criminal and a misdemeanor count of carrying a handgun without a license.\nAngel Silvas’ father, Michael Silvas Jr., 24, was charged with three felony counts each of pointing a firearm and criminal recklessness. Silvas failed in his primary election bid Tuesday for a seat on the East Chicago City Council.\nHis father, Michael Silvas Sr., 46, was charged with felony counts of carrying a handgun without a license and criminal recklessness.\nThe shooting left Angel Silvas, who was sitting in a car, with a single gunshot wound to the head. He died Monday night at St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago.\nWitnesses told police that just before the shooting, they saw Michael Silvas Jr. standing outside his car pointing a gun at two unarmed men crouched behind another car.\nSilvas, who was purportedly once a member of the Latin Kings but now associates himself with the Vice Lords, said others who were interviewed got angry because he thought one of the two men made a gang gesture toward him, according to the affidavit.\nThey told police that Silvas pulled out his gun. “I got you pinned. I got you pinned. Start something now,” the report quoted him as saying.\n“I got my kid in the car and you’re gonna disrespect me?” a witness said Silvas told the man at whom he allegedly was pointing the gun.\nAnother man tried to calm down Silvas and told police Silvas was putting away his gun when his father, Michael Silvas Sr., came running out of his house shooting, the report states.\nAt that point, the candidate allegedly started shooting, too. But other witnesses reported that Michael Silvas Jr. shot first while still others said the first shots came from a group of men walking nearby. Avila and Gonzales were in that group of men, according to reports.\nIn a statement to police, Gonzales said he got a call from a fellow Latin King who told him Michael Silvas Jr. was pointing a gun at him. Gonzales said he and Avila armed themselves and drove to the area to “take care of the problem and defend a friend,” the report states.\nDuring the shootout, witnesses reported hearing more than 20 shots. Avila was hit in the leg and chin in exchange of gunfire.