A Hammond man has been charged in connection with a 2016 shooting that left a 23-year-old woman dead.
Roberto William DeLeon, 23, was charged in Lake Superior Court with reckless homicide, criminal recklessness and misdemeanor carrying a handgun without a license in a shooting that killed Megan Jaronski, of Hammond.
Witnesses in the area of Hohman Avenue and Hoffman Street in Hammond told police they saw a man running through the parking lot of an auto repair business in the area. Another witness reported seeing a man with a gun run into a house at the end of the alley in the 400 block of Hoffman Street, according to the probable cause affidavit in the case.
Meanwhile, a green Dodge Durango arrived at Franciscan Health Hammond with Jaronski. The SUV was registered to the same address as the person seen running with a gun, the probable cause affidavit states.
Jaronski’s husband, Robert Allen Jaronski II, 26, initially told police that he was driving south on Hohman and waiting near the South Shore tracks when a car pulled alongside and he heard gunfire, then realized his wife was shot, the probable cause affidavit said.
DeLeon’s girlfriend told police that the Jaronskis, DeLeon and she went to her grandmother’s house in Burnham, Ill., and on the way back, she heard Robert Jaronski say to DeLeon, “Here, bro, hold this,” as he passed him a handgun. Robert Jaronski was driving, Megan Jaronski was seated in front, DeLeon’s girlfriend was behind the driver and DeLeon sat behind Megan Jaronski, records said.
The woman told police she saw DeLeon do something with the gun and it accidentally went off, court records said. She told investigators that DeLeon didn’t know that Robert Jaronski had left a bullet in the chamber. After the gun fired, DeLeon jumped from the Durango and ran.
Megan Jaronski died of a gunshot wound to the back, records said.
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In a statement, Robert Jaronski told police he’d purchased the gun six weeks earlier and applied for a gun permit. He had planned to go to the gun range, but instead they went to Burnham. DeLeon had cautioned Jaronski to slow down because he had the gun in his possession and neither of them had a gun permit, Jaronski told investigators.
Jaronski told police he handed the gun to DeLeon and told him to take the bullets out, and when they got back to the home in Hammond the two couples shared on Hoffman Street, they would take the gun and bullets inside. Once they neared the train tracks in the 4500 block of Hohman Avenue, Jaronski said he heard a boom and saw his wife slump over, records said.
DeLeon, who was arrested at the Hoffman Street home, told police he’d removed the clip and put it on his lap with the gun, then put it in the pouch of the passenger seat. DeLeon said he “messed up” and didn’t check to see if there was a bullet in the chamber, records said. When they neared the railroad tracks, he grabbed the gun and clip from the seat pouch to take them into the house. They hit a bump, DeLeon told police, and he recalled his body bouncing when he put the clip into the gun, which went off, court records said.
Jaronski was charged with misdemeanor carrying a handgun without a license.
Ruth Ann Krause is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.