GARY | Two people charged Wednesday in the Saturday shooting of a 12-year-old Gary girl are blaming each other for the incident, authorities said.
Gary residents John Fitzgerald Johnson, 22, and Keon Alexander Neely, 17, were charged in Lake County Criminal Court with attempted murder, battery and criminal recklessness in the shooting of Arbriana Turner.
Both face a maximum of 50 years in prison if convicted, and bond has been set for $100,000 each, the Lake County prosecutor's office said. The defendants remained in Gary City Jail on Wednesday afternoon.
Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said given the serious nature of the charges, Neely automatically was charged as an adult.
Arbriana was shot Saturday in front of her house by two people involved in an argument with the girl's next-door neighbor, said Arbriana's stepfather, Ivan Woodard.
Court documents indicate the defendants are blaming each other for the shooting.
In statements made to police, both defendants reportedly said they were walking by a party Saturday near Arbriana's house in the 1000 block of East 36th Place.
Each defendant blames the other for trying to talk to a girl sitting outside of a house on the block, only to be rebuffed by the girl's grandmother because she was too young, court records allege.
Both defendants admit in court documents to shooting a gun into the air after the other yelled an obscenity toward Arbriana and Woodard. But the defendants blame each other for shooting at least three additional times.
Both admit they fled after the shooting to a house on 35th Court, court records state.
Arbriana was hospitalized at the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital after a bullet entered the right side of her face and lodged behind her left eye, her mother, Loretta Tyler, said.
Arbriana remained at the hospital Wednesday and may undergo surgery to remove the bullet next week, Tyler said.
The bullet did not enter her brain, but after speaking with doctors, the girl's parents have said they fear she may lose sight in her right eye.
